The Indian exchange WazirX suffered a hack of $230 million on July 18, Thursday morning. The exchange reportedly holds $503 million of crypto, indicating about half of the total crypto holdings have been hacked. This unauthorized transfer has impacted the crypto prices at the exchange; many leading cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, are trading at a discounted rate on WazirX. Besides, withdrawals have been put on hold, requesting users not to panic.
The exchange updated its social media about the hack.
📢 Update: 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. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024
The attacker attacked WazirX’s multisig wallet on the Ethereum network and drained ETH and ERC20 funds. Following the breach, SHIB declined by more than 6%, considering the $100 million drain, and WRX, the exchange’s native token, fell sharply from $0.169 to $0.147 at the time of writing. Furthermore, PEPE and MATIC are expected to suffer a $6 million and $11 million drain respectively.
WazirX is one of the most trusted exchanges in India, founded in 2017 by Nischal Shetty, Siddharth Menon, and Sameer Hanuman Mhatre. The exchange is registered with the FIU Financial Intelligence Unit to cater to Indian customers.
