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Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Suffers Security Breach: Hackers Steal Over $230m

Hackers have stolen over $50 million ETH, $7.5 million PEPE, and $100 million SHIB from Indian exchange WazirX in a major security breach.

By Alex Ioannou

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2024

Hackers have stolen over $50 million in ETH, $7.5 million in PEPE and over $100 million in SHIB from Indian exhchange, WazirX.

WazirX has now confirmed the nine-figure security breach, with over 16 million users now waiting nervously to find out whether customer funds will be affected. The WazirX hack has resulted in over $230 million being drained. The hackers have already begun to sell off PEPE and SHIB.

$230 Million Hack Quickly Spotted By On-Chain Wallet Tracker – WazirX Respond

WazirX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange (by userbase), has suffered a huge security breach. Earlier today (July 18), on-chain wallet tracker account, ‘LookOnchain’, posted to X regarding an abnormal batch of transfers from WazirX’s exchange wallets. The transfers included over $230 million worth of tokens, with the most notable being ETH, PEPE, SHIB, MATIC & USDT.

The exchange quickly responded to the hack, posting on its X account, “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.” Users are flooding the comments of the post, frantically asking if user funds are safe. As of yet, there is no official answer from WazirX.

Hackers Have Begun Selling Stolen Funds, Starting With SHIB

LookOnChain has updated its original post to say that the hackers are beginning to sell the stolen coins. In bad news for SHIB holders, 35 billion tokens, totaling $618,000, have already been dumped. That sale looks to be the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the hackers still have a huge $95.4 million worth of SHIB (5.4 trillion tokens) left to dispose of.

Web3 security alert platform Cyvers has reported that the hackers are using the coin mixer, TornadoCash, to sell the stolen tokens. This method of selling will make it nearly impossible to track and freeze the tokens. Unless the hackers are tracked sending any of the funds to a cooperating centralized exchange, chances of the funds being recovered are next to none.

WazirX has the largest user base of any Indian cryptocurrency exchange, with over 16 million registered users. Per CoinGecko, the platform receives 1.52 million monthly users and has processed over $3.5 million in trading volume within the past 24 hours.

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Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.

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Disclaimer
Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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Alex Ioannou
Alex Ioannou
On-Chain Journalist

Alex is an aspiring writer focusing on the more degen side of the crypto world. Always on the lookout for the next hot narrative. Read More

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