WazirX crypto exchange halts deposits and withdrawals after $230 million hack; reported incident to Indian regulators

The hack on July 18 led to the Indian crypto exchange WazirX losing over $230 million from one of its wallets

The crypto exchange paused deposits and withdrawals for both Indian rupee and crypto users [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX said that it had reached out to the Indian police, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) India, CERT-In, and over 500 other exchanges in order to respond to a hack of its wallet that led to the theft of more than $230 million.

“On July 18, 2024, WazirX experienced a cyber attack on one of our multisig wallets, resulting in the theft of digital assets exceeding $230 million. This wallet was managed using Liminal’s digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure. As a result of the attack, our ability to maintain 1:1 collaterals with assets has been deeply impacted,” said WazirX, in addition to saying it had taken “immediate and comprehensive actions.”

The crypto exchange paused deposits and withdrawals for both Indian rupee and crypto users. It also paused all trading activities in order to carry out a detailed security audit, it said.

In the statement, WazirX did not provide a specific timeline for when it would resume normal operations. It also did not share any information about possible suspects and perpetrators.

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“We have already tracked and blocked some funds from wallet services but cannot disclose any further details on this yet,” said the crypto exchange.

The address of the affected Ethereum wallet is 0x27fD43BABfbe83a81d14665b1a6fB8030A60C9b4, per the exchange.

WazirX further warned users to be wary of scammers or hackers impersonating its official accounts, and announced a bounty program to get back the stolen assets.

Winners could get up to $10,000 worth of USDT (a cryptocurrency that is pegged to the value of the US Dollar), while the White Hat bounty could go as high as $23 million.