WazirX Hack Victims Set for Partial Compensation
Victims of the WazirX hack are poised to receive 85% of their portfolio values as recorded on July 18. The exchange has successfully completed its asset rebalancing process, and the first round of distributions is scheduled for April. This development follows a significant breach that resulted in the loss of approximately $230 million in user assets.
As of Tuesday, affected users can now view both the U.S. dollar and Indian rupee valuations of the assets that were compromised during the hack that occurred in July 2024. In a move aimed at mitigating losses, the exchange has redistributed the gains from the unstolen tokens held by users, thereby increasing the total amount that can be returned to them.
Creditors now have until February 19 to accept the current rebalancing plan, which requires a majority vote of 75% to proceed. Should this scheme gain approval, it includes several innovative measures: launching a decentralized exchange (DEX), issuing recovery tokens that can be traded, and implementing a periodic buyback of these tokens using platform profits and newly generated revenue streams over the next three years.
However, failure to approve the scheme could lead to the dissolution of the restructuring plan, pushing the process toward liquidation under Section 301 of the Singapore Companies Act. This scenario would likely result in a fire sale of assets, diminishing the compensation that creditors might receive as assets are sold off at potentially reduced values.
The security breach at WazirX was attributed to a vulnerability within one of its multisig wallets last July. The incident resulted in the draining of over $100 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB) and $52 million in Ethereum (ETH), among other cryptocurrencies. The stolen assets represented over 45% of the total reserves recorded by WazirX in a report released in June 2024, prompting the need for a restructuring plan to address outstanding liabilities. According to previous reports by CoinDesk, the North Korean hacking group Lazarus is believed to have orchestrated the attack.
