WazirX to Resume Indian Rupee Withdrawals In Phases, Plans Crypto Restructuring

In the aftermath of a devastating $230 million cyberattack in July 2024, WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, on Friday announced plans to resume Indian Rupee (INR) withdrawals and restructure its cryptocurrency holdings.

What Happened: This announcement comes after weeks of user frustration and backlash over the platform’s handling of the incident.

WazirX will implement a phased approach for INR withdrawals beginning Aug. 26.

The initial phase, running from Aug. 26 to Sep. 8, will allow users to withdraw up to 33% of their INR balance.

This will be followed by a second phase from September 9 to September 22, during which users can withdraw up to 66% of their INR balance.

The exchange cited ongoing investigations by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) as the reason for the partial withdrawal limit, noting that approximately 34% of INR balances are currently frozen.

Regarding cryptocurrency balances, WazirX plans to pursue a Singapore Scheme of Arrangement to facilitate what it calls an “equitable and user-approved distribution of cryptocurrency assets.”

Also Read: Russia To Launch Crypto Exchanges In Moscow And St. Petersburg: Is A New BRICS Stablecoin Coming?

This legal process is designed to give users a voice in the restructuring, allowing them to vote on a proposal and ensuring their opinions are considered in the final resolution.

In an effort to ease the financial burden on users during this challenging time, WazirX has announced a 60% reduction in withdrawal fees.

The WazirX hack had caused ripples across the industry, prompting experts to scrutinize existing security measures.

Speaking with Benzinga, Ido Ben Natan, Co-Founder and CEO of Blockaid said there is one major blind spot that keeps coming up in Web3 companies—blind signing transactions.

“Even with strong security measures like multisig wallets and whitelisted addresses, WazirX got hit because a signer couldn’t see the full details of what they were approving. Hackers exploited this to upgrade the Gnosis Safe and drained $230M in assets,” he said.

Notably, practice of blind signing occurs when users or platform operators approve transactions without fully understanding their implications, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to exploit.

What’s Next: These are topics likely to be at the forefront of discussions at Benzinga’s upcoming Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.

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