Indian exchange WazirX follows Binance in delisting USDC

WazirX, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has opted to delist USD Coin (USDC) from its platform and convert its remaining balance into the Binance-backed Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.

WazirX officially announced on Monday that it has stopped depositing USDC along with other stablecoins such as Pax Dollar (USDP) and True USD (TUSD).

According to the announcement, the platform will instead offer the BUSD stablecoin to increase liquidity and capital efficiency for users. WazirX will implement automatic conversion of a user’s existing USDC, USDP, and TUSD balances to his BUSD at a 1:1 ratio on October 5, the company said.

“Once the conversion is complete, users will be able to view USDC, USDP, and TUSD balances under BUSD denominated account balances,” the exchange said. “WazirX may revise the list of stablecoins eligible for automatic conversion,” the announcement added.

USDC, USDP and TUSD withdrawals will still be available on WazirX until September 23rd. The platform will then delist the stablecoin from spot trading pairs on September 26th.

According to CoinGecko data, WazirX was trading a small amount of USDC prior to the announcement. At the time of writing, the only USDC trading pair listed on WazirX is USDC trading against Tether (USDT) with a daily volume of $3,400.

In contrast, BUSD has two trading pairs on WazirX, trading against the USDT stablecoin and the Indian Rupee, with daily volumes of $5,700 and $5,200 respectively.

WazirX did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Related: Circle co-founder says dollar book convergence on Binance is good for USDC

Launched by regulated fintech firm Circle and Coinbase crypto exchange, USDC is the second largest stablecoin by market capitalization after Tether USDT. At the time of writing, USDC has a market capitalization of $50 billion, down more than $17 billion from rival stablecoin USDT. According to CoinGecko, Binance USD is the third largest stablecoin by value with a market capitalization of $20.6 billion.

The latest delisting of USDC from WazirX comes shortly after Binance announced plans to remove USDC as a tradable asset from its platform. Similar to WazirX, Binance says it will auto-convert USDC, USDP and TrueUSD balances to his BUSD stablecoin to expand liquidity.

In August, Binance denied ownership of Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX after it came under regulatory scrutiny. India’s Enforcement Department previously froze more than $8.1 million in his funds at WazirX as part of an anti-money laundering investigation into the company.