India-based cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has announced a phased timeline to reintroduce withdrawals following a July hack that resulted in the loss of $234 million in investor funds.
According to an August 23 notice from the exchange, the suspension of withdrawals for user balances in Indian rupees (INR) will be lifted gradually starting on August 26.
WazirX has set a withdrawal limit of 66% of users’ INR funds, allowing customers to withdraw up to half of that limit between August 26 and September 8. The remaining balance can be withdrawn between September 9 and September 22.
However, the exchange has not provided a specific timeline for crypto withdrawals, citing “insufficient token assets” due to the cyberattack and the theft of a massive amount of ERC-20 tokens, which accounted for roughly 45% of total investor funds.
The exchange also mentioned that 34% of INR balances remain frozen due to ongoing investigations by various law enforcement agencies. These funds are not immediately available for withdrawal.
The hacker behind the $230 million breach converted most of the stolen assets into ether. The hacker exchanged funds for 43,800 ETH, valued at around $149.46 million, and currently holds 59,097 ETH. The wallet also contains about $15 million in other cryptocurrencies, including Dent, Chromia, Celer Network, and Frontier tokens.
WazirX clarified that its operating entity for INR-related activities, Zanmai, is not the target of these investigations, and the funds will be made available once the investigations are concluded.
This incident follows a series of compliance issues for crypto exchanges in India. In December, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Indian Ministry of Finance issued compliance notices to several exchanges for violating Anti-Money Laundering regulations. In response, OKX began phasing out its services in India earlier this year.
The popular crypto exchange, which primarily services the Indian market, is among the few Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) registered exchanges in the country.
The stolen tokens, which account for over 45% of the total reserves cited by the exchange in a June 2024 report, were reportedly sold on Uniswap, including $96.7 million worth of SHIB, and $52.6 million worth of ETH.
According to Elliptic, the attack was carried out by North Korea-linked cybercriminals.
