Rs 2,000 crore WazirX hack: Govt probe on as millions of users seek refunds

New Delhi: Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, which suffered a massive Rs 2,000 crore (about $234 million) cyber theft in July as millions of users still wait for their money in digital assets to be refunded, is now facing scrutiny from top government agencies in the country.

According to reports, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) officials have met the top leadership of WazirX, asking them about the hacking of crypto tokens, as the government is concerned about the impacts on WazirX investors.

The crypto exchange has provided information as sought and probe agencies are scanning through the details, as per sources.

Legal experts in the country had earlier asked for a thorough investigation by state authorities, considering the magnitude of the WazirX cyber-crime.

WazirX has already admitted that nearly 43 per cent of its users are likely to lose their money stolen in digital assets, affecting users from India the most.

In the meantime, hackers behind the WazirX theft have started withdrawing stolen digital assets via the Tornado Cash platform, which is an open-source, fully decentralised cryptocurrency mixer platform that runs on Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible networks.

New reports surfaced last week, saying WazirX removed the video of a live town hall session on YouTube, where the management claimed to share “100 per cent profits from any crypto price appreciation in future with users”.

In the town hall session, WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty and George Gwee, director of Kroll legal firm handling WazirX restructuring post the hack, answered queries from affected users.

As per The Crypto Times, Gwee said in the video that any profits made from crypto price appreciation during the restructuring process would be shared 100 per cent with users. Later, the live video was made ‘private’ by the WazirX management.

Shetty claimed in the Townhall session that 87 per cent of the total 4.4 million users of the exchange hold only 8 per cent of funds in the exchange.

IANS