Analysing WazirX’s Controversial Approach to Mitigating Financial Impact of Wallet Hack

WazirX has been trying to resume services on its platform as it continues to investigate the recent hack of one of its wallets under Liminal Custody’s oversight leading to a loss of $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,900 crore). Over the weekend, the exchange published details on a ‘socialised loss strategy’ that it has hatched to deal with the financial aftermath of this hack. As part of this plan, the exchange has decided to distribute the impact of this loss ‘equitably’ among all of its users – regardless of whether or not their funds were directly impacted by this hack. The development has stirred controversy in India’s crypto sector.

Explaining its strategy, a blog post by WazirX said, “Users with 100 percent of their tokens in the ‘not stolen’ category will receive 55 percent of those tokens back. The remaining 45 percent will be converted to USDT-equivalent tokens and locked.”

According to the Mumbai-headquartered exchange, this 55/45 approach should be able to balance the immediate access to a portion of users’ assets while the exchange hopes for a future recovery of lost funds.

WazirX has essentially laid out two options before its userbase of 16 million, noted Arjun Vijay, Co-Founder of Giottus crypto exchange. Over the weekend, Vijay called WazirX’s plan ‘atrocious’, alleging that the exchange is ‘blackmailing’ its users to either voluntarily lock their funds or they will not be prioritised if recovery was to be made.

“There are two options given to customers. Willingly disable their crypto/INR withdrawals and continue with trading and INR deposits or choose the other option where withdrawals will be open, but with daily limit,” Vijay said. “In case there is a recovery of the hacked amount, the people who choose option A will be rewarded with hundred percent of their funds back but people who choose option B will have to compromise with only some percent of the compensation.”

WazirX seems to be facing a backlash from India’s crypto circle on this strategy. CoinDCX’s Sumit Gupta also chimed in with Vijay opposing WazirX’s plan, asking the exchange to reconsider its actions.

The exchange has not addressed the feedbacks from industry stakeholders as of now. As per its blog, this strategy is fair and transparent that distributes the impact equitably. The exchange also cited instances where other crypto exchanges like Bitfinex used this strategy to manage a similar situation.

Meanwhile, the severity of this case has reportedly caught the attention of the FBI. Over the weekend, FBI reportedly reached out to WazirX seeking details of this hack. As per a statement being circulated on Monday, July 29 by cyber security firm Cyfirma, North Korea’s infamous Lazarus Group is confirmed to be responsible for this hack attack. WazirX is yet to confirm Cyfirma’s finding.