Anika Begay
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX announced its plan to compensate customers after a multi-million dollar hack last month on Thursday. The exchange revealed that it has decided to restore all customer balances and cancel all transactions made before July 18 and 21.
WazirX will restore all account balances
On July 18, WazirX suffered a security breach that left approximately $235 million stolen from one of the trading platforms’ multisig wallets. The cryptocurrency theft stole millions of ETH, SHIB, PEPE, MATIC, and other tokens, leaving thousands of users empty-handed.
As a result, the platform halted operations and launched a plan to recover the stolen funds. The reward program awarded 10% of the stolen funds, approximately $23 million, to those who assisted the WazirX team in recovering the tokens from the malicious actors.
In the latest development, the Indian exchange has revealed steps to address user concerns and compensate affected customers following the massive hack. According to the announcement, WazirX will restore all account balances after withdrawals are halted on July 18, 2024, at 1:00 PM IST.
Crypto exchange updates customers of the following steps. Source: WazirX India on X
Additionally, the trading platform is ready to cancel all trades made on it between the withdrawal cutoff and the trading pause on July 21. WazirX stressed that the “decisive action” was taken after carefully considering the situation and feedback from affected clients.
All users will see their wallet balances on the WazirX platform restored to their balances as of July 18, 2024, 1:00 PM IST. This reset will be done in the coming days and affected users will receive an email informing them of any affected transactions.
The cryptocurrency exchange clarified that the rollback would only affect trades executed after July 18 to ensure that “all users are treated fairly following the anomaly resulting from the cyberattack.”
As specified in the announcement, all pending and pending trades will be automatically canceled during the recovery. Additionally, TDS associated with the unsuccessful trades, as well as commissions and referrals resulting from them, will be credited back and reversed to the affected users.
Cryptocurrency community criticizes next step
WazirX customers shared mixed opinions about the measure. Some users expressed their appreciation for the rollback, calling it a “step in the right direction.” Meanwhile, others criticized the decision to reverse trades made after the hack.
Customers ask for full fund return. Source: Zia ul Haque on X
Some users felt that the exchange made a mistake by not suspending all trading on the day of the hack. By suspending only withdrawals, customers continued to use the platform for three days before the halt to trading was announced.
As a result, these customers may be affected by the rollback. Additionally, some community members have stated that the measure was “not a good infusion after 3 weeks, just a correction of your mistake.”
Similarly, WazirX has also faced backlash for not resuming operations. Users who were not affected by the hack believe that the inability to withdraw their funds is “creating unnecessary problems.”
The announcement said that operations are set to remain paused while the recovery is being processed. Some say the cryptocurrency exchange is “creating a pool of unclaimed funds” by not reopening withdrawals for unaffected funds.
Total crypto market capitalization is at $1.99 trillion in the weekly chart. Source: TOTAL on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
