India’s largest crypto exchange hack recently occurred, with WazirX losing over $230 million (approximately Rs 1,920 crore) in digital assets. The breach has been described as one of the most significant in the country’s cryptocurrency history. Exchange has decided to offer Rs 192 Crore (10% of the stolen amount) as White Hat Bounty to the hacker in exchange for the remaining funds.
Response to the Hack
In response to the theft, WazirX, known as ‘India ka bitcoin exchange,’ immediately took action. The company filed a police complaint and reported the incident to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Additionally, WazirX reached out to more than 500 exchanges to block the identified stolen addresses and engaged with cybersecurity experts to assist in the recovery process.
Actions Taken by WazirX
To focus solely on recovering the stolen assets and protecting customer funds, WazirX suspended withdrawals and paused trading on its platform. The company is currently conducting a thorough forensic data examination and security audit. They are also working to resume withdrawals as soon as possible.
Bounty Program to Recover Stolen Funds
In a recent update on X (formerly Twitter), WazirX announced a Bounty Program to help recover the stolen assets. Initially, the company offered a $10,000 reward in USDT for actionable intelligence leading to freezing the stolen funds, along with a 5% incentive from the recovered amount as a white hat reward.
However, this initial reward amount faced criticism from netizens who felt it was inadequate compared to the scale of the theft. In response, WazirX founder Nischal Shetty increased the bounty to $11.5 million, and later to $23 million (approximately Rs 192 crore). Shetty acknowledged the feedback, stating, “The total bounty has been updated to $23M. Thanks zachxbt for the suggestion.”
Bounty Program Details
The WazirX bounty program will run for three months and is open to everyone except WazirX employees and their families. The increased bounty reflects the company’s serious commitment to recovering the stolen funds and ensuring the safety of its users’ assets.
WazirX’s significant bounty offer highlights the severity of the recent hack and the company’s dedication to recovering the stolen crypto assets. As the investigation and recovery efforts continue, the increased bounty aims to incentivize individuals to come forward with valuable information to help resolve this major security breach.
