Tech
India’s Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange WazirX Loses Nearly Half of Its Reserves: How, What, and More Details About the ‘Hacked’ Attack
Mumbai-based crypto exchange WazirX has stopped withdrawals from the platform after suffering a major hack. India’s largest crypto exchange confirmed the same in a statement on X, previously Twitter. WazirX recorded withdrawals in the early hours of Europe on Thursday (July 18). WazirX, which popularly calls itself “India Ka Bitcoin Exchange,” primarily caters to the Indian market. It is said to be among the few exchanges registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in the country, allowing it to offer crypto exchange services to Indian citizens.
The company called the security breach a “force majeure event” that reportedly caused a loss of $230 million. “This is a force majeure event outside of our control, but we are leaving no stone unturned to locate and recover the funds. We have already blocked some deposits and contacted the affected wallets for recovery. We are in contact with the best resources to assist us in this endeavor,” WazirX said in a statement posted to its X account.
“The hack stemmed from a discrepancy between the data displayed on the Liminal interface and the actual content of the transaction,” WazirX said in a statement Thursday. “During the hack, there was a discrepancy between the information displayed on the Liminal interface and what was actually signed. We suspect that the payload was replaced to transfer control of the wallet to an attacker.”
What Makes $230 Million in Stolen Funds Important?
Reports suggest that the platform has lost around $230 million. What makes the amount of missing assets significant for WazirX is that the company reported holdings of around $500 million in its proof-of-reserve disclosure in June. This means that WazirX has lost nearly half of its reserves. According to Cyvers’ estimate, the amount lost from the multi-signature wallet on WazirX would be one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in recent years.
List of everything stolen from WazirX
Third-party blockchain explorer Lookchain has reported that more than 200 cryptocurrencies, including 5.43 billion SHIB tokens, over 15,200 Ethereum tokens, 20.5 million Matic tokens, 640 billion Pepe tokens, 5.79 million USDT, and 135 million Gala tokens, have been “stolen” from the platform.
And WazirX’s biggest rivals?
CoinSwitch and CoinDCX are the other two major cryptocurrency exchanges in India. The two companies assured their customers that their funds were safe and unaffected by this incident. “Our wallet security remains strong,” Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of CoinDCX, wrote in a tweet.
“We advise all our cryptocurrency investors to be aware of the potential market volatility during this period and to exercise caution in their trading and investment activities,” tweeted Ashish Singhal, co-founder and CEO of PeepalCo, the holding company of the CoinSwitch group.
What the investigations say
According to media reports citing Blockchain Detective Elliptic, North Korean hackers appear to be behind the attack. The leak of a private key that provides access to the wallet reportedly led to the hack. The leaked private keys are said to have been used to upgrade a secure multi-sig wallet, which holds a large number of assets, to a malicious contract
WazirX vs Binance
India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange WazirX split from global cryptocurrency giant Binance in early 2023. The two cryptocurrency exchanges had a high-profile and public fallout in 2022. Two ownership disputes began two years after Binance announced it had acquired WazirX. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao eventually claimed the two firms were unable to close the deal and moved to end Binance’s operations with the Indian firm.