WazirX Battles Cyberattack: Bounty Program Announced
- WazirX launches a bounty program to recover $235M in stolen crypto assets after a major cyberattack.
- WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty announces incentives for help in freezing or recovering stolen assets.
- Large-scale liquidation of stolen ETH could impact Ethereum's price, but market recovery remains a focus.
WazirX Initiates Bounty Program After Major Hack
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has reported to launch of a bounty to help restore the stolen funds in a major hack. The exchange has initiated several measures that can be considered immediate, namely, filing a police complaint and reporting the incident to the FIU and CERT-In. They are also working with over 500 exchanges to blacklist addresses connected with the stolen funds.
WazirX’s co-founder Nischal Shetty expressed that they are working to launch a bounty program to motivate people and companies to assist in freezing or recovering the stolen funds. They are cooperating with specialized groups that are following the flow of cryptocurrencies and are studying the information to assess the scale of the problem.
The exchange is also working closely with forensic specialists and the police to arrest the culprits. The breach led to the loss of about $235 million, which ranks the hack as the second biggest hack of a centralized exchange in recent times. Crypto sleuth ZachXBT stated that the main hacker has not been emptied and still possesses more than $104 million.
WazirX: What Actually Happened
On 18th July 2024, WazirX, the biggest crypto exchange in India, was hacked, and the company lost more than $230 Million worth of assets. The hack targeted a multisig wallet that was protected by Liminal, and this is a wallet that needed multiple signatures for spending.
The attackers exploited a discrepancy in Liminal’s interface to gain control over the wallet, specifically targeting Ethereum (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens. They stole 15,298 ETH directly and swapped other assets like Shiba Inu (SHIB), Polygon (MATIC), and Pepe Coin (PEPE), amassing a total of 59,097 ETH, valued at $206.7 million. Users are now concerned about the recovery of their funds.
What happens If Hackers Liquidate 59,097 ETH
A large-scale sell-off ETH could lead to a significant drop in Ethereum price. The sudden influx of such a large amount of ETH into the market could create selling pressure, driving prices down. However, Whales always grab these types of opportunities and accumulate the asset at a lower price. The same case happened recently with the Bitcoin when German government sold a massive 50,000 BTC which caused the BTC price to drop from $70K to $50K. Despite the drop whales accumulate the assets and prices again take off.
Conclusion
One of India’s most popular crypto exchanges, WazirX, has started a bounty program to recover the funds that were stolen in a tremendous hack that occurred a few days back and cost the exchange $235 million of assets. The exchange is going to great lengths to recover the lost funds working with the police and over 500 exchanges. Even though such action may affect the market by liquidating 59,097 ETH, the general mood is to restore and improve security.
