Wazirx NFT collectors want its ownership transferred to a DAO

The group, which is frustrated by the sudden closure of the marketplace and has faced multiple technical issues in listing and accessing their NFTs in the months since the WazirX marketplace’s shutdown, is looking to work together to control the operations.

“WazirX always wanted this marketplace to be decentralised. In the present situation, it makes sense to give it back to the community and let them form a DAO,” they wrote in the email, which ET has seen. It was not clear if the group intends to set up a fresh DAO or would use one that already exists.

“The team will need time to think about it. Benefits and risk analysis will need to be done in order to take a decision in this regard,” a WazirX spokesperson told ET.

In their email to Shetty, sent on March 30 on behalf of the entire collector community, the collectors had cited five major challenges – such as the present Wazirx NFT contracts not being verified – which could lead to the NFTs getting delisted by marketplaces. They also wrote that video and image file of the NFTs was not discoverable by OpenSea – one of the most used and trusted NFT marketplaces in the world. The OpenSea issue was resolved on Thursday morning.

The collectors also wrote in the email that “18,275 NFTs are currently stuck in the escrow contract”, which was affecting the value and credibility of the NFTs. A WazirX spokesperson said the user has to go to their respective profile on the WazirX marketplace and delist the NFT for it to land in their own wallet.

Discover the stories of your interest

WazirX marketplace was launched in June 2021 and the NFTs – digital certificate of ownership that represents the purchase of a digital asset, traceable on a blockchain – were minted on Binance Smart Chain. WazirX was actively involved in bringing collectors and artists to mint on its platform and even launched the first-ever NFTs with singer Ritviz and designer Manish Malhotra, and many other first time NFT artists.Amid falling trading volumes, WazirX announced its decision to shut down the NFT marketplace in February this year. However, collectors and company insiders claim that the top leadership started losing interest in growing the NFT marketplace over a year before it officially shut down due to an ongoing ownership dispute between WazirX and Binance.

“The WazirX NFT marketplace shutdown has demoralised the entire NFT ecosystem in India. The inability to communicate the closure effectively to the community and not being sympathetic to their issues was a huge faux pas,” said Vishakha Singh, who was the cofounder and vice president of the WazirX NFT Marketplace and exited the company in September 2022.

As of March 2022, the total number of NFT collectors on the WazirX marketplace was almost 3,000. Most prized NFTs of artists and celebrities sold for as much as $3,000-$8,000 on the platform.

“One of the main reasons for considering a DAO is to ensure the survival of the Indian NFT ecosystem, which has been left abandoned by WazirX. Taking control of what the collectors and creators have built with their time, money, and effort, rather than relying on the platform, seems like a reasonable approach to us,” said blockchain developer Ramesh Gopal, who bought about 400 NFTs on WazirX NFT marketplace and co-signed the letter.