A Singapore court has granted Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX a four-month moratorium, with conditions, after the exchange lost $234 million in a July hack.
The moratorium, shorter than the six months initially requested, comes with several stipulations.
Under the court’s conditions, WazirX is required to make its wallet addresses public, respond to user queries raised in court, release its financial information, and ensure that any future voting for court applications is independently monitored.
The July hack, which wiped out 45% of customers’ funds, saw the attacker nearly complete laundering the stolen assets.
During the court hearing, the judge suggested that WazirX consider disclosing any additional assets beyond the stolen tokens. The judge acknowledged the exchange’s “good faith” in seeking a moratorium to manage the fallout.
Nischal Shetty, founder of WazirX, commented on the court’s decision, saying, “Our immediate filing for the moratorium was a decisive step taken to ensure the fastest, fairest, creditor-approved, legally binding path to resolution where creditors have a token choice and potential upside in a bull run.”
The hacker continues to move stolen funds using the U.S.-sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash, with recent transfers of 5,000 ether ($13 million) made on Wednesday. Onchain analytics platform Arkham reported that more than 61,500 ether ($161 million) has been transferred to the mixer so far.
Sending funds to mixers is a tactic frequently used by cybercriminals to obscure the origin of stolen cryptocurrency, making it harder for law enforcement to trace the funds.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic linked the attack to the North Korean Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking organization known for high-profile crypto exploits.
Amid the fallout, WazirX founder Nischal Shetty has repeatedly shifted blame for the hack. Initially, Shetty claimed that a mistake by custodian Liminal led to the breach—a claim that Liminal denied. In August, Shetty shifted focus, suggesting that Binance, which he said held a majority of WazirX parent Zettai Labs’ funds, restricted WazirX’s ability to repay affected customers.
Forn its part, Binance has distanced itself from WazirX, reiterating last week that it does not own, control, or operate the exchange. Binance claimed that a contract between the two companies was never finalized due to “Zettai’s failure to perform its obligations.”
Binance also accused Shetty of making misleading statements about the relationship in court affidavits.
