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WazirX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, experienced a security breach that resulted in the loss of $234 million in user funds yesterday. The incident, which affected the exchange’s multisig wallet on the Ethereum blockchain, involved the theft of over 200 distinct crypto assets, including Shiba Inu, Ethereum, Polygon, and the PEPE memecoin.
On Thursday night, blockchain analytics company Lookonchain disclosed via X that the individual responsible for this significant theft has converted most of the stolen assets into ether (ETH).
Lookonchain reported that the hacker exchanged the stolen funds for 43,800 ETH, approximately valued at $149.46 million. The hacker’s wallet now contains about 59,097 ETH, estimated to be worth $201.5 million at the time of this report.
The #WazirX exploiter has exchanged most of the assets for 43,800 $ETH($149.46M) and currently holds 59,097 $ETH($201.67M).
Currently, there are ~$15M assets left. Including:
1.66B $DENT ($1.56M)
6.76M $CHR ($1.72M)
78.6M $CELR ($1.12M)
958,428 $FRONT ($909K)
…It is worth… pic.twitter.com/MX9uvt3BpV
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 19, 2024
Hacker Retains $15 Million in Various Cryptocurrencies
Besides ether, the hacker’s wallet holds approximately $15 million in different cryptocurrencies, such as Dent, Chromia, Celer Network, and Frontier tokens. Lookonchain also pointed out a peculiar transaction involving the deposit of 7.7 million Dent tokens (valued at $7,300) to a previously unused Binance deposit address.
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The breach has led WazirX to suspend all withdrawals while they investigate the security issue. In an official statement, the exchange indicated that the cyber attack arose from a discrepancy between the data shown on Liminal’s interface and the actual contents of the transaction. During the attack, there was a mismatch between the information displayed on Liminal’s interface and what was actually signed.
In a statement sent to CryptoNews, Liminal Custody clarified,
“Our preliminary investigations show that one of the self-custody multi-sig smart contract wallets created outside of the Liminal ecosystem has been compromised. We can confirm that Liminal’s platform is not breached and Liminal’s infrastructure, wallets and assets continue to remain safe.”
The precise method of the hack is still under investigation, but initial findings from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suggest the involvement of hackers associated with North Korea.
Elliptic’s report emphasizes that on-chain data indicates techniques typically employed by North Korean hackers, who have a history of targeting cryptocurrency exchanges to finance the regime. This breach adds to a series of notable hacks within the cryptocurrency industry, raising alarms about the security of digital asset exchanges.
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