Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has suffered a massive security breach. The company announced in a post on x: “At WazirX, our commitment to transparency and community welfare is paramount. There was a cyber attack on one of our multisig wallets”. The crypto exchange has confirmed that the breach resulted in the loss of user funds and withdrawals of $230 million. These stolen assets are more than 45 percent of the total reserves reported by the exchange in June 2024. WazirX has temporarily halted INR and crypto withdrawals on the platform. “We are aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily halted,” the crypto exchange wrote in a separate post.

Multisig (multi-signature) wallets in crypto exchanges require multiple private keys to authorize transactions, thereby increasing security. This prevents unauthorized access and ensures that funds can only be transferred with the approval of multiple parties, reducing the risk of theft and fraud.

The hacker is currently selling the stolen tokens, including $100 million worth of Shiba Inu and $52 million worth of Ether, on the on-chain exchange Uniswap. WazirX has shared the address of the affected wallet: 0x27fD43BABfbe83a81d14665b1a6fB8030A60C9b4

WazirX found in its investigation that “the cyberattack stemmed from a discrepancy between the data displayed on Liminal’s interface and the actual content of the transaction. During the cyberattack, there was a mismatch between the information displayed on Liminal’s interface and the information actually signed. We suspect that the payload was altered to transfer wallet control to the attacker.”

We have reached out to WazirX in this regard but have not received a response yet.

The crypto exchange says it is investigating the matter further and trying to recover the lost funds as soon as possible. “This is an unforeseen event beyond our control, but we are leaving no stone unturned to trace and recover the funds. We have already blocked some deposits and contacted the relevant wallets for recovery. We are in touch with the best resources to help us in this endeavor. Although these are our findings from our initial investigation, we will keep you informed with further updates,” WazirX wrote in a post on X.

WazirX is a cryptocurrency exchange based in India. It allows users to buy, sell, and trade various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. Launched in 2018, it offers a platform for spot trading, staking, and peer-to-peer transactions, and features such as a native utility token (WRX) and integration with Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange.