Crypto exchange WazirX is launching 'WazirX AI', an artificial intelligence assistant that will allow users to interact with the platform through natural language commands rather than traditional trading interfaces. According to founder Nischal Shetty, the AI tool is expected to help users execute trades, conduct research, analyse market sentiment and evaluate investment opportunities. Users could instruct the assistant to buy Bitcoin after a 5% price decline, without manually calculating price levels or configuring trading parameters. The assistant could also help investors validate claims circulating on social media before making investment decisions, asking AI whether there's enough data to back a particular claim. As Shetty explained, "A lot of traders lose money because they panic, or because they make a decision... seeing a random post online by some random person saying this token will go up by x percentage, and they go and buy. Well, now you can treat them as signals -- but you can ask AI is this true, or is there enough data to back this claim?"
The exchange has introduced WazirX ZERO, a subscription-based trading model allowing users to trade more than 300 tokens for a fixed monthly fee of ₹99, eliminating per-trade transaction charges. In June, WazirX launched futures trading with maker fees of 0.02% and taker fees of 0.04%, with no volume thresholds. According to Shetty, generating profits remains the company's top priority as it seeks to compensate creditors under its restructuring plan. Shetty noted that "The number one priority for us is generating profits so we can distribute it to our creditors. That is the ultimate goal, it is what we are focusing on." The company is also working on staking features to help users earn yield on their existing assets.
WazirX currently holds about 8-10% of the domestic crypto trading market, according to Shetty, who said the platform records daily trading volumes worth millions of dollars. The exchange aims to eventually regain the more than 50% market share it once commanded. Shetty noted that when WazirX launched in 2018, it took about four years to reach the number one position from being the eighth or tenth exchange. "There are mature players now, a larger ecosystem, but we are pretty confident that if we focus on the product and the customer service as we've done before, we will be able to break through and become the largest again," Shetty said. The company's focus has shifted from redistributing user funds to rebuilding the business and restoring trust through product innovation and improved customer support.
WazirX resumed operations in October after the Singapore High Court approved its restructuring plan following the $235 million cyber attack. Under the plan, users received 85% of their balances within 10 days of the exchange's restart, with the remaining claims to be distributed over three years. Shetty emphasized that the company's recovery remains unusual in the crypto industry, where exchanges hit by attacks of similar scale have often failed to resume operations. "I don't think there is any precedent for something like this. Exchanges that have had attacks of the magnitudes like ours have usually wound down and been unable to restructure and restart," Shetty said. "We are probably one of those rare situations where we've restarted with the objective of how do you earn back the 15 per cent and distribute that back to all our creditors."
