The crypto exchange disclosed the incident in the early hours of Thursday, July 18, and noted that its team is actively investigating the breach. It noted that it has temporarily suspended withdrawals to safeguard users’ funds.
Blockchain analytics firm, Lookonchain, initially reported the security breach, stating that over $230 million worth of digital assets were transferred from WazirX’s wallet to another wallet address, “0x04b2.” According to the firm, the attacker’s wallet sold 640.27 billion $Pepe tokens, valued at approximately $7.6 million.
📢 Update: We’re aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024
Further analysis by Lookonchain unveiled that the hacker had stolen various other virtual assets, including 5.43 trillion $SHIB tokens (worth $102 million), 15,298 $ETH (worth $52.5 million), and 20.5 million $MATIC tokens (worth $11.24 million). The assets taken also encompassed 5.79 million $USDT, 135 million $GALA coins (valued at $3.5 million), and 6.3 million $FTM (worth $3.2 million), plus other memecoins, cryptocurrencies, and GameFi tokens.
Etherscan data indicates that the hacker is actively liquidating the stolen assets through the decentralized exchange Uniswap. However, the attacker has yet to sell their $ETH holdings and is currently holding about $4.2 million worth of $FLOKI coins in their portfolio, leaving room for potential recovery of the stolen assets.
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The crypto market has recently witnessed significant losses due to security breaches and exploits on web3 platforms. A recent report by PeckShield Alert highlighted that exploiters siphoned off $176.2 million worth of crypto assets in June 2024 alone. Despite the substantial loss, this figure represents a 54.2% decrease compared to the staggering $574.6 million stolen in May, a promising sign for the industry’s security.
Singapore court approves the restructuring
The recovery process faced several legal setbacks before moving forward. In June 2025, the Singapore High Court initially declined to approve WazirX’s proposed restructuring scheme. The company subsequently obtained permission to conduct a revote after making changes to address regulatory concerns arising from Singapore’s new digital-asset rules.
The amended scheme received strong creditor support, and the Singapore High Court sanctioned it in October 2025. The scheme became effective on October 15, allowing WazirX to move ahead with distributions and restart its platform.
The development was important because WazirX had more than 4.4 million creditors affected by the restructuring. The exchange’s plan sought to distribute the available assets while preserving the possibility of additional recoveries from stolen or illiquid assets.
Users received their first distribution
The recovery process moved into its distribution phase after the platform restarted in October 2025. WazirX said eligible users received a first distribution representing approximately 85% of their approved claims, based on the valuation methodology established under the restructuring scheme. The exchange subsequently allocated Recovery Tokens to eligible users in January 2026.
The recovery tokens are designed to give creditors an interest in potential additional recoveries and other amounts generated through the restructuring process.
WazirX had also managed to freeze approximately $3 million in USDT linked to the stolen funds in January 2025. The exchange continues to work with investigators and blockchain-forensics firms to trace the remaining assets.
WazirX is rebuilding in 2026
In January 2026, WazirX announced an integration with Fireblocks to strengthen the custody and security of platform assets. The move followed earlier partnerships with institutional custody providers including BitGo and Zodia as the exchange sought to address concerns raised by the 2024 breach.
WazirX has also expanded its product offering. In a July 2026 update, the exchange said its newly launched futures product had gained traction, with average trades per user increasing 11-fold over its first five months. The company also reported that trading value allocated to futures grew 300% between March and June.
These developments suggest that WazirX is trying to rebuild beyond the original spot-trading model while using new custody infrastructure to improve asset protection.
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