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The crypto company recently shared plans to ‘socialise’ the impact among its customers, but this plan was met with criticism.
Indian crypto company WazirX plans to restore the balances of customer accounts and undo trades that occurred after a cyberattack stole $230m worth of crypto.
The cyberattack took place on 18 July and saw a massive amount of customer funds stolen as a result. WazirX – one of India’s leading crypto exchanges – saw its reserves plummet by 45pc as a result of the breach.
In response to the cyberattack, WazirX opted to freeze all trading and withdrawals on the platform while it worked to resolve the issue – this freeze is still ongoing.
In response to recent feedback, WazirX says it will make trades between 18 July and 21 July “ineffective”, essentially rolling back the platform to before the cyberattack occurred. The company said this is being done so all users are “equitably treated”.
WazirX said the restoration will be carried out over the next few days and affected users will receive an email notifying them of any affected trades.
“This decision has not been made lightly and aims to protect the integrity of our platform and facilitate an equitable outcome for users following the abnormality arising as a result of the cyberattack,” the company said.
“Thank you for your patience and support as we work towards resuming platform operations and optimise outcomes for users.”
Towards the end of July, WazirX revealed plans to “socialise” the impact of the breach among its customers, though this was met with criticism and concern when it shared a poll on the option to X users.
“Making customers directly absorb the 45pc losses is utter nonsense,” CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta reportedly posted in response. “The poll options are also framed in a manner to protect the business first and not the customers.”
There are reports that the cyberattack was orchestrated by a hackers affiliated with North Korea, a country that is linked to various crypto thefts.
In 2022, a major hack resulted in approximately $625m worth of cryptocurrency being stolen from Ronin, the gaming-focused blockchain network used for the NFT-based game Axie Infinity. This attack was reportedly conducted by Lazurus, a North Korean state-backed cyberattack group.
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