Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Faces Security Breach: Over $230 Million in User Funds Lost

Indian crypto exchange WazirX faced a major security breach in one of its multisig wallets, resulting in the loss of user funds and over $230 million in withdrawals. The exploiters are actively selling the stolen tokens, including $100 million worth of shiba inu and $52 million in ether, on the onchain exchange Uniswap.

The stolen funds make up over 45% of the total reserves reported by the exchange in June 2024. WazirX confirmed the breach and stated that they are investigating the incident to ensure the safety of assets, temporarily pausing withdrawals.

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic suggested that North Korea-linked hackers may be behind the attack. The stolen funds include a significant amount of shiba inu, ether, Matic, and pepe tokens, with the exploiter actively selling them on Uniswap.

WazirX identified the multisig wallet’s provider as crypto custody firm Liminal, which later clarified that wallets created outside of their ecosystem were compromised. The Indian Financial Ministry declined to comment on the attack or its impact on the country’s crypto ecosystem.

WazirX is a popular exchange among Indian traders and is registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to offer crypto services to Indian citizens. Despite the breach, the exchange continues to see significant trading volumes, with tether and XRP leading the way.

Updates have been added to provide context and additional details on the reserves, as well as comments from WazirX and Elliptic. The situation is ongoing, with investigations and efforts to mitigate the impact of the breach.