WazirX To Restart Operations From October 24

A week after receiving a nod from the Singapore High Court on its restructuring plan, crypto exchange platform WazirX is now set to restart its operations from tomorrow. (October 24). 

To lure traders back to the platform, the startup intends to waive off trading fees completely across all trading pairs  (a combination of two different crypto assets that can be traded against each other on an exchange) in India. It intends to expand the 0% trading fee across all additional markets in the near future.

Besides, it is imperative to note that WazirX’s relaunch would be in a phased manner, where investors can trade in crypto to crypto pair and in Tether to INR transactions.

WazirX is expecting to make a comeback after its platform faced a major cybersecurity breach, which resulted in a theft of about $235 Mn worth digital assets from the platform. While the traders impacted by the crypto heist are still to get back their lost cash, WazirX said that it is working towards issuance of recovery tokens to impacted creditors.  According to the company website, it will issue recovery tokens on the value of their relevant claims in proportion to the aggregate value of all relevant claims. 

In a bid to prevent any such incidents in the future, the cryptocurrency exchange has partnered with BitGo, which provides infrastructure and security services for digital assets such as cryptocurrency coins and NFT. 

“Asset security is currently a crucial aspect in the global crypto ecosystem. Our partnership with BitGo adds an additional layer of trust and protection with world-class custody standards, as we restart,” WazirX founder Nischal Shetty said.

The startup also said that it has completed token swaps, merger, delisting, migration of tokens and any rebranding that the tokens on its platform may have undergone in the past one week.

In February, WazirX had completed the process of rebalancing its liquid net assets as part of the restructuring plan to allow investors to receive their stolen digital assets. 

The Crypto Heist Saga At WazirX

In July 2024, a cyber breach at WazirX led to the platform losing crypto assets worth $235 Mn from its multi-signature wallet hoisted on Liminal. Subsequently, WazirX halted its operations and filed an FIR with Delhi Police’s Special Cell.. 

Initially, the crypto platform tried to blame Liminal for the crypto breach but further investigations revealed that a North Korean hacker group Lazarus was involved in the hacking of the stolen digital assets.

With the mounting pressure from the affected 4.3 Mn WazirX users, the startup initiated its process to recover the stolen digital assets last year. In April, WazirX’s creditors approved its restructuring plan and began redistributing the stolen crypto assets, marking the first step toward recovery. After rejecting earlier versions twice, the Singapore High Court finally sanctioned the plan last week—allowing the exchange to resume trading and withdrawals within days.

WazirX is not the only Indian crypto-exchange which has been impacted by cyber security breaches. In July this year, CoinDCX also experienced a cyberattack, where hackers robbed $44 Mn worth digital assets from the platform.