Markets
Hack of Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX sends SHIB, WRX plummeting while Bitcoin, Tether trade at discounted prices
Cryptocurrencies stolen from a malicious attack on Indian exchange WazirX early Thursday, as well as the platform’s native token, are suffering significant losses in their market values after the hack drained about 50% of the exchange’s reserves.
The exchange has temporarily suspended withdrawals.
WazirX’s WRX token is trading 15% lower at just over 14 cents, according to data from Coingecko. The rupee-denominated price has fallen more than 25% since the exchange confirmed the hack that saw the attacker make off with $230 million in customer funds, including $100 million in shiba inu (SHIB)The attacker also drained $52 million in ether (ETH)$11 million in MATIC and $6 million in PEPE.
Since then, SHIB has lost more than 6% of its market value in US dollar terms, while trading 16% lower in rupees, following reports that the hacker is liquidating the coins. Blockchain data suggests the attacker dumps SHIB, putting downward pressure on its market value.
Other tokens remained relatively stable in dollar terms while suffering significant losses in the exchange’s INR pairs.
The bitcoin-rupee (BTC/INR) pair notably fell 11% to 5.1 million rupees ($60,945), trading at a massive discount to prices on rival exchange CoinDCX, where the cryptocurrency was trading at 5.7 million rupees. The global average price of dollar-denominated BTC rose 1% on the day to $61,800. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is valued at around $64,900 according to data from CoinDesk Indices.
Meanwhile, the USDT-INR (USDT) pair on WazirX fell by 8%.
The discounts on BTC, USDT, and other cryptocurrencies on WazirX likely reflect investor panic selling and a rush to fiat/cash following the hack.