Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has fallen victim to hackers, with $235 million worth of various cryptocurrencies stolen due to a breach in the platform’s wallet security. The attack was detected by blockchain security firm Cyvers Alerts, who revealed that the stolen funds were transferred to a new address, with the help of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
The stolen assets include Pepe (PEPE), Gala (GALA), Tether (USDT), Polygon (MATIC), Floki Inu (FLOKI), Shiba Inu (SHIB), 1Inch (1INCH), Uniswap (UNI), and the FTX Token, which were converted to ether (ETH) by the hackers. At the time of the announcement, the attacker’s wallets still held $221 million worth of tokens, with the majority consisting of SHIB, MATIC, and ETH.
WazirX’s security team was unable to prevent the breach despite attempting to contact the exchange before the attack was made public. In response to the incident, the exchange has temporarily paused crypto withdrawals to secure assets and minimize losses. The team is actively investigating the breach to ensure the safety of users’ assets.
The hack has had a significant impact on the price of WazirX’s native token, WRX, which plummeted by 15% following the news of the attack. Although the token has recovered slightly since then, it is still down by 13% in the past 24 hours. This incident highlights the security risks associated with cryptocurrency exchanges and the importance of robust security measures to protect users’ funds.