Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX temporarily suspended trading after being hacked and lost $230 million on July 18, and offered a bug bounty of $23 million for asset recovery.
WazirX temporarily suspended transactions, offering a $23 million bug bounty to those who find the culprit
In the early morning of July 22, the Indian exchange WazirX on platform
📢 Trading has been temporarily paused
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 21, 2024
The cyber attack theft has impacted our ability to maintain 1:1 collaterals with assets, and we've temporarily paused trading.
We're conducting thorough forensic data examination and security audit procedures and working to enable…
"The attack has seriously affected the exchange's ability to guarantee 1:1 assets, forcing us to temporarily suspend trading,"
With more than 100 million USDin Shiba Inu (SHIB ) and millions of USD in Matic , PEPE , USDT , and GALA Token stolen, WazirX is currently conducting due diligence and checking the security process so that users can withdraw money soon.
WazirX also announced a bug bounty reward to call on the community to follow and support the exchange in recovering stolen assets.
In response to the recent cyber attack on one of our multisig wallets, we're announcing a Bounty Program to recover the stolen assets. We invite the community to participate in:
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 21, 2024
Bounty 1: Track & Freeze — offering rewards up to $10,000 worth of USDT for actionable intelligence… pic.twitter.com/vxNQiZlJwM
Specifically, the Bug Bounty program offered by the Indian exchange includes 2 parts:
- Bounty 1 - Track & Freeze Bounty: Offers rewards up to 10,000 USDT for useful information that helps the exchange freeze stolen assets.
- Bounty 2 - White Hat Recovery Bounty: Offers 5% of the recovery amount as a reward to those who find security vulnerabilities.
However, on-chain detective ZachXBT said that 10 million USD (equivalent to 5%) does not have much meaning if the culprit is really Lazarus Group and to offer a 10% reward as usual because this hacker group is not easy. can be easily traced to be held legally responsible and return the money taken.
$10M bounty means nothing if it is indeed Lazarus Group located as they are not going to just hand over the funds or be and held legally accountable.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt)July 21, 2024
5% is lower than 10%+ industry standard
Soon after, WazirX quickly changed the bug bounty reward to 10% based on ZachXBT's feedback.
Based on @zachxbt 's feedback, we have increased the White Hat Recovery reward to 10%, ie, up to $23 Million.
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 21, 2024
We invite white hat hackers, blockchain forensics experts, and cybersecurity professionals from around the world to join this critical mission and protect the integrity… https://t.co/WasoyJT5UX
ZachXBT later stated that he would not participate in the investigation of this hack due to insufficient resources, noting that the possibility of recovering assets from Lazarus Group attacks is extremely rare. The last time assets were recovered was in September 2022, when only $30 million was recovered out of a total loss of $622 million from the largest Ronin bridge hack in crypto history.
The community is currently raising many suspicions that this hack is part of a larger conspiracy when it is reported that before the hack, all CEX exchanges were removed from the Google Play Store in India. Degree, making it possible for users to only deposit their funds into WazirX.
At first All CEX removed from playStore so people can deposit fund only in # WazirX and after some time suddenly there was a hacking of $230M from only that exchange #WazirXHack , government wants only tax, no responsibility for peoples fund. What's going on #CryptoCommunity . pic.twitter.com/fgVFHeuKEH
— reducecryptotax (@Reducecryptotax) July 21, 2024
A meme image was later circulated by the community, mocking that even hackers had to pay 30% tax to the Indian government.
Meanwhile, the Indian Govt. WazirX #cryptotax pic.twitter.com/Fuk26rU6nH
— Kanik Rajput | Kanik. ETH (@kaniik) July 18, 2024
In fact, according to the new law in India, all profits from the sale of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, are subject to a flat tax rate of 30%. However, this regulation only applies to legal and declared transactions. For illegal activities like hacking, the profits are not covered by the legal framework and are therefore not really taxable. This meme photo only shows the community's dissatisfaction with the government's handling of protecting people's cryptocurrency assets.
The WRX Token price plummeted more than 20% after news of the hack spread. WRX price is currently fluctuating around 0.138 USD, down 0.29% in the past 24 hours.
4h chart of the WRX/ USDT pair on Binance at 07:15 AM on July 22, 2024
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