WazirX Hack: Crypto Exchange Contacts Projects Associated with Stolen Tokens in Ongoing Recovery Attempts

WazirX has yet to enable withdrawals for customers on its platform.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 24 July 2024 18:30 IST

WazirX Hack: Crypto Exchange Contacts Projects Associated with Stolen Tokens in Ongoing Recovery Attempts

Photo Credit: WazirX

One multi-sig wallet of WazirX, was hacked under the oversight of Liminal Custody

Highlights

WazirX says it has informed CERT-In of the hack
It is currently unclear whether North Korean hackers were involved
WazirX’s bounty initiative has a three-month deadline

WazirX was recently breached, and the ensuing loss of funds from a wallet held by the crypto exchange has had a heavy impact on the crypto sector in India. The beleaguered crypto exchange says that it has attempted to identify and recover the stolen funds worth over $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,924 crore) in the last six days since the incident took place on July 18. However, it is facing increasing criticism from users as it is yet to re-enable withdrawal services for customers in the country.

A blog post providing daily updates related this hack has provided some insight into WazirX's efforts to recover its funds. The webpage reveals that the exchange's ability to maintain 1:1 collateral with assets has been left deeply impacted in the aftermath of the hack.

The exchange has also stated that its WazirX bounty initiative has seen 133 inquiries — this is considerably higher than the number of requests received a day after the bounty was set up. This initiative was announced earlier this week and offers rewards to the hackers who could help WazirX trace and freeze stolen funds. WazirX has also offered $23 million to the hacker in White Hat bounty if the stolen funds are returned.

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The exchange, in addition, has claimed that it is working with law enforcement authorities and seeking help from others from the Web3 community to mitigate the impact of this hack.

The hacker — suspected to be from the notorious North Korea-based Lazarus Group — managed to steal the funds through a total of 203 crypto assets. Ether, Tether, Pepecoin, Gala, Polygon, and Shiba Inu are among tokens that were swiped by the hacker, according to a list that WazirX has shared with Gadgets360.

In its blog, WazirX has mentioned that “this incident has affected the Ethereum multi-sig wallet, which consists of ETH and ERC20 tokens.”

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On-chain analytics firm QuillAudits claims more tokens that have been stolen from the compromised wallet. These include LINK, SAND, APE, LDO, and USDC among others.

WazirX revealed its upcoming plans in a post on X (formerly Twitter) stating that it has contacted projects that control and manage these stolen altcoins as part of the recovery process.

These projects are yet to disclosed information on their communication with WazirX or about their participation in assisting the troubled exchange.

The exchange has once again reiterated that it is working on resuming withdrawal, deposit, and training services as soon as possible, without providing a definite date when these services will be back online.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, WazirX Hack, Bounty, Investigation

Radhika Parashar

Email Radhika

Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More