India’s largest crypto exchange WazirX has temporarily paused trading on its platform amidst the ongoing investigation into its asset theft worth $230 million.
The exchange had earlier stopped withdrawals from its platform temporarily after one its multisig wallets got hacked and its private keys were compromised. A mutlisig wallet is a crypto wallet which require two or more private keys to unlock and withdraw funds.
In a post on X, WazirX notified, “The cyber attack theft has impacted our ability to maintain 1:1 collaterals with assets, and we've temporarily paused trading.”
“We're conducting thorough forensic data examination and security audit procedures and working to enable withdrawals soon. User safety remains our top priority.”
Earlier in the day, WazirX had announced a Bounty Program calling ethical hackers to help recover the stolen assets. For track and freezing — the exchanging is offering rewards up to $10,000 worth of USDT for actionable intelligence that leads to freezing the funds.
In a second bounty, hackers will get a 10 percent incentive from White Hat Recovery which would amount to up to $23 million.
According to WazirX’s proof of reserve report from last month, as of June 10, 2024, at 6:30 PM, WazirX’s total holdings stood at an impressive Rs. 4,203.88 Crores (USDT 503.64 Million). This means that the exchange would have lost nearly half of their holdings in this $230-mn hack.
Also read: The $230 million crypto theft at Wazirx a wake-up call for Indian regulators, government
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