WazirX shuts down its NFT marketplace

WazirX announced on February 22 that it is shutting its non-fungible tokens (NFT) marketplace due to a lack of traction, indicating an increasingly difficult business environment for the virtual digital assets (VDAs) segment amid high taxes, regulatory uncertainties, and global market volatility.

WazirX's crypto exchange business has already lost more than 90% of its trading volumes since the implementation of a 30% income tax on profits and a 1% TDS on all VDA transactions last year. With global volatility in crypto asset prices and the FTX collapse last year, sentiments in the sector have been low.

The NFT marketplace was launched in 2021 with the goal of facilitating the exchange of digital assets and intellectual properties such as art pieces, audio files, videos, programmes, and even tweets, in addition to other digital goods and services.

“We regret to announce that the WazirX NFT Marketplace has been sunsetted. We are proud to have launched India's first NFT Marketplace in June 2021, which showcased the work of many creators. Unfortunately, it did not gain much traction,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.