WazirX’s fight against cybercrime has paid off with its recent freezing of $3 million worth of USDT.
Embattled Indian-based crypto exchange, WazirX has achieved a critical victory in its fight against cyber criminals. As reported by CNBC on Friday, the exchange has frozen about $3 million USDT in stolen assets.
This milestone marks the platform’s first successful recovery effort since its devastating cyberattack last year. The platform, which has been navigating challenging restructuring proceedings, aims to ensure justice for affected users and secure its future in the volatile crypto industry.
WazirX Poses a Unified Front Against Hackers
The recovery of $3 million USDT is just the first tranche in what WazirX hopes will be a series of successful efforts to reclaim stolen assets.
Recovering stolen funds is no small feat for the trading platform. Market analysts consider WazirX’s success to be the result of tireless collaboration with law enforcement agencies, forensic experts, and legal authorities.
In a statement, Nischal Shetty, Founder of WazirX, emphasized the exchange’s commitment to tracing and retrieving stolen assets.
He added that the trading platform is actively exploring the most effective strategies to assist its users. Jason Kardachi, Managing Director and Co-Head of Global Restructuring Practice at Kroll, echoed this sentiment.
He highlighted the platform’s dual approach of on-chain forensics and legal actions against complicit third parties.
Also, the platform’s restructuring and recovery plans aim to not only compensate affected users. It is also to reinforce its security measures to prevent future breaches. This achievement also underscores the importance of international cooperation in combating cybercrime.
The Cyberattack: A Blow to Crypto Security
The incident traces back to July of last year, when WazirX confirmed a breach of one of its wallets in a blog post that resulted in a financial loss exceeding $230 million.
Notably, the United States, South Korea, and Japan attributed the sophisticated cyberattack to North Korean hackers.
The compromised wallet, which relied on Liminal’s digital asset custody infrastructure, was protected by multiple layers of security. This includes six signatories and whitelisted destination addresses.
However, the hackers took advantage of a major flaw, a difference between the data shown on Liminal’s interface and the real transaction details.
This allowed the bad actors to manipulate the system and seize control of the wallet. As reported by Coinspeaker, WazirX ended its partnership with Liminal Custody after the incident.
In related news, CoinSwitch, a leading Indian crypto exchange, announced its initiative to help WazirX’s affected users. Through its “CoinSwitch Cares” recovery program, it has set aside a $69.9 million fund to help users recoup their losses.
The program will offer rewards such as deposit bonuses, revenue-sharing incentives, and referral benefits over two years,
Although, it is designed to encourage users to switch platforms. This has caused the program to face criticism for being more of a marketing strategy than direct compensation.
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