WazirX to Reverse Transactions Following $230 Million Breach

The Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX will reverse all transactions conducted on its platform following a $230 million hack and the suspension of withdrawals on July 18.

? Important Update:

We are actively listening to your feedback and taking decisive action to address your concerns! After careful consideration of the situation and the feedback received from numerous users, we are constrained to restore the balances of all accounts and undo… pic.twitter.com/Bmp6GqvPfr

— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) August 8, 2024

WazirX will restore customer balances in fiat and cryptocurrencies to levels as of 1:00 PM IST on July 18. The exchange will notify users of all changes via email. The rollback process will occur “over the next few days.” 

“This difficult decision is aimed at protecting the integrity of our platform and ensuring a fair outcome for users following the disruption caused by the cyberattack,” the statement reads.

On that day, the exchange suffered an exploit in which assets worth over $230 million were illicitly withdrawn from a multisig wallet on Ethereum. WazirX suspended withdrawals and initiated an investigation.

Experts at Elliptic concluded that North Korean hackers were behind the breach.

On July 27, the exchange team proposed a “fair and transparent social loss strategy,” launching a survey via social media. The initiative offers immediate access to 55% of the lost assets and the possibility of further compensation for “those who prefer to wait.”

The plan faced criticism from community members.

“Forcing clients to directly absorb 45% of the losses is utter nonsense. The survey options are also phrased in a way that primarily protects the business, not the clients,” wrote CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta at the time.

In July, crypto projects lost $278.8 million due to malicious activities, with the WazirX incident accounting for the majority of the total damage.