WazirX Heist: Legal Advisers Doubt Full Crypto Recovery For Customers

The legal team for WazirX said today that the exchange’s customers doubt whether the exchange should be made whole in crypto terms.

Leading Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX suffered a massive security breach on July 18, 2024, resulting in hackers stealing $230 million of customers’ digital assets. In the latest development, the exchange’s legal advisers have opined that users are unlikely to recover their funds in full despite the ongoing restructuring process. 

Speaking on a conference call with journalists, George Gwee, a director at restructuring firm Kroll, that is helping WazirX with its restructuring, stated that at least 43% of the funds any user had in WazirX are unlikely to be recovered. Gwee added that the recovery might be “anywhere between 55% and 57% of the funds in an optimistic scenario.”

For those unfamiliar, a restructuring typically follows a severe incident at an organization to reorganize its operations, finances, and governance. 

In WazirX’s case, the restructuring aims to distribute the remaining digital assets pro-rata to the affected users. Without delving too much into detail, the exchange hinted at discussions to share profits from its revenue-generating products and services.

Jason Kardachi, managing director at Kroll, noted:

In crypto terms, it’s extremely unlikely that we can make people whole. So, whatever profits we generate or contributions from white knights or third parties can help improve the recovery in crypto terms. But I don’t think it’s realistic to think that we could ever make people whole when half or thereabouts of the crypto has suffered from the cyber attack.

However, Kardashi offered a glimmer of hope, saying that if the overall crypto market improves, users may recover more of their lost investment in dollar terms.

WazirX’s hack is, by far, the largest cryptocurrency exchange hack in India. Since the hack, the company has undertaken various measures, some unsuccessfully, to compensate users who lost their funds stored on the exchange. 

One such measure was the proposal to socialize the loss or the “55/45 approach”, which suggested that all users, regardless of whether they were affected by the hack, could only trade 55% of their tokens. In contrast, the remaining 45% would be converted into stablecoins and locked in the exchange. Predictably, the proposal generated massive backlash within the Indian crypto community, forcing WazirX to abandon distributing user losses.

A look at the WRX token chart summarizes the exchange’s tumultuous journey since the hack. Since March 2024, when the token approached $0.37, it has been on a downward trajectory, hitting as low as $0.12 immediately following the theft.

Although the WazirX mishap has sent tremors across India’s nascent crypto industry, the country’s high user participation still holds the potential to establish it as one of the most influential crypto markets in the world.

However, several hurdles must be overcome before India can hope to become a superpower in the global crypto ecosystem. For instance, the stringent tax regulations regarding crypto transactions in the country deter retail investors and traders from participating in the industry.

At the same time, the country’s apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged Indian banks to embrace emerging technologies like AI and blockchain.