Viral
WazirX Reports Rs 1900 Crore in Suspicious Withdrawals Following Security Breach
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has reported a major security breach, resulting in the loss of over $230 million in user funds. The breach occurred in one of the exchange’s multisig wallets, which require multiple private keys to authorize transactions.
In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), WazirX confirmed the incident: “We’re aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused.”
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The breach has led to significant withdrawals, with over $100 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens, $52 million in Ether (ETH), $11 million in Matic’s MATIC, and $6 million in Pepe (PEPE) being stolen. The exploiter is actively selling the stolen tokens on the onchain exchange Uniswap.
Early data from Lookonchain shows that these stolen funds account for over 45% of WazirX’s total reserves, which were reported to be $500 million in June 2024. The exchange’s live proof of reserve site was down for maintenance at the time of writing.
WazirX, popular among Indian traders, is one of the few Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) registered exchanges in India. This allows it to offer crypto exchange services to Indian citizens. According to CoinGecko, WazirX exchanged at least $2.2 million in volumes in the past 24 hours, primarily in tether (USDT) stablecoins and XRP.
The WazirX team is working diligently to investigate the breach and secure user assets. Users are advised to stay updated through official WazirX channels for further information and instructions.