The hacker behind the $230 million WazirX heist has swiftly begun moving stolen funds using Tornado Cash, a service that masks wallet addresses. This major development comes in after the hacked crypto exchange initiated the INR withdrawals phase 2 for users.
In July, WazirX lost over $100 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB) and $52 million in Ether, among other assets. The security breach drained around 45% of its reserves and its legal advisers estimate a potential loss of 43% of customer assets.
WazirX hacker transfers $6.5M of ETH to crypto mixer
As per the data shared by PeckShieldAlert, a WazirX exploiter-linked address moved 2600.1 Ether (approx worth $6.5 million) to Tornado Cash in multiple transactions. This service is often used by scammers and hackers in order to clean stolen crypto.
The data shows that the wallet address is holding more than $155 million worth of different tokens but with a majority in Ether. However, ETH price jumped by over 3% in the last 24 hours with a 1-day trading volume of $12 billion. Ether is trading at an average price of $2,519, at the press time.
#PeckShieldAlert #WazirX Exploiter -labeled address has transferred 2600.1 $ETH (worth ~$6.5M) to #Tornadocash within the last 9 hours
On July 18, India's #CEX WazirX suffered a major security breach, resulting in the theft of over $230 million in cryptos. pic.twitter.com/0QeKkleUyb— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 3, 2024
The hacker’s use of Tornado Cash to move and clear funds will eventually complicate recovery efforts. The platform effectively hides the identity of those moving stolen funds across blockchains. This heist has forced WazirX to file for restructuring with the aim of clearing liabilities. It is expected to be done while grappling with the loss of nearly half its assets.
INR withdrawals now open on WazirX
Nischal Shetty, co-founder of WazirX, in an X post, announced that Phase 2 of INR withdrawals is live ahead of schedule. All the eligible users are now open to pull out the 66% limit of their INR balances. He highlighted that the original schedule was set to be on September 9, 2024, but the platform has managed to move the date early to provide quicker access.
The big announcement arrived just the day after the hacked exchange had a townhall with the users to discuss the proposed restructuring and Moratorium application. WazirX is seeking a six months protection from Singapore’s High Court to restructure liabilities.
📢 INR Withdrawals Phase 2 Starts Early!
Starting today, all eligible users can now withdraw up to the full 66% limit of their INR balances.
Originally scheduled for 9th September, we’ve moved this up to provide quicker access. Thank you for your continued patience and support… pic.twitter.com/6I3BA220b2
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) September 3, 2024
If the moratorium gets approved then it would block any legal action against the exchange for at least six months which would buy them time for damage control and a recovery proposal. Frustrated users are demanding access to their frozen funds, but hacked exchange warned that a full recovery is unlikely. WazirX’s ongoing ownership dispute with Binance has already complicated the situation.
