Crypto Exchange WazirX Offers USD 23 Million to Hacker to Return Stolen Funds

Hackers stole funds worth about $240 million by breaking into a multi-signature wallet of WazirX, one of the largest crypto exchanges. The exchange has offered about $23 million (about Rs 192 crore) to the hacker to return this fund. This matter had an impact on the crypto market.

This also raised questions about the strength of security in crypto exchanges. WazirX WazirX has also offered a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who helps them access and seize the stolen funds. Sana Afreen, a user of this exchange, told Gadgets360 that WazirX’s reward offer has given some hope to those who suffered losses due to this theft. She said, “I had invested about Rs 25 lakh in crypto through WazirX. This market is booming and I am making profit on my investment. However, my profit is stuck due to the exchange’s withdrawal ban.”

About $240 million (about Rs 1,965 crore) was suspiciously sent from this exchange to a new address linked to the controversial crypto mixer platform, Tornado Cash. WazirX came to know about this matter from a post on the social media platform X by security firm Cyvers. WazirX said in a statement, “We have come to know that the security of one of our multi-signature wallets has been breached. Our team is investigating it.”

WazirX has halted all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. Cyvers had reported that the address to which the funds were sent from WazirX had already converted PEPE, GALA and USDT tokens into Ether. It shared a screenshot which showed that a large amount was transferred in three transactions. It is not known how a wallet with multi-signature became the target of such an attack. These wallets require two or more private keys or signatures from co-signers to authorize transactions. WazirX has more than 16 million users.