'WazirX moved crypto worth $74mn after data breach': Coinswitch
23 Oct 2024, 06:12 PMThe alleged transfer included $72.13 million to Bybit and $1.5 million to KuCoin, Coinswitch co-founder Ashish Singhal posted on social media.
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Oct 22: Following a massive $230 million cyberattack in July, WazirX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, transferred approximately $73.63 million worth of user assets to global exchanges Bybit and KuCoin, according to Ashish Singhal, co-founder and CEO of rival platform CoinSwitch.
The alleged transfer included $72.13 million to Bybit and $1.5 million to KuCoin, as reported by Singhal in a post on social media platform X on October 21.
The hack, which compromised nearly 45 percent of WazirX's crypto holdings, targeted one of the company’s multisignature wallets, affecting a substantial portion of its user base.
Singhal stated that CoinSwitch has initiated legal action to recover around 2 percent of its funds that remain stuck with WazirX. CoinSwitch had assets valued at Rs 12.4 crore in INR, Rs 28.7 crore in ERC20 tokens, and Rs 39.9 crore in other tokens held on the WazirX platform.
To aid crypto investors in tracking the situation, CoinSwitch developed a dashboard displaying WazirX wallet addresses, making the information accessible to the public. Singhal described the dashboard as "just one piece of a complex puzzle," emphasizing that ongoing legal proceedings limited the extent of what could be shared with the community.
Responding to Singhal's remarks, a WazirX spokesperson criticized CoinSwitch for failing to provide a real-time proof of reserves (POR) and detailed wallet addresses for its customers, despite years of requests. The spokesperson noted that while CoinSwitch had created a dashboard of WazirX’s wallets, WazirX itself had also tracked real-time wallet information, demonstrating how easy it is to establish transparency. The spokesperson suggested CoinSwitch first address its own POR and make its wallet data public.
WazirX, which accounts for roughly 33 percent of India's crypto user base, has been navigating the aftermath of the significant breach as legal disputes and transparency concerns continue to escalate between the two leading crypto platforms.
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