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A few days ago, India witnessed its largest crypto exchange hack, resulting in the theft of over $230 million (approximately Rs 1,920 crore) in digital assets from WazirX.
Following this, WazirX, which brands itself as 'India ka bitcoin exchange,' filed a police complaint and reported the incident to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The company also reached to over 500+ exchanges to block the identified addresses and started engaging with cybersecurity experts to assist in its recovery efforts.
Notably, the company also suspended withdrawals and paused trading on its platform as it says it is solely focused on recovering the stolen funds and safeguarding customer assets.
The company said it is conducting thorough forensic data examination and security audit procedures and working to enable withdrawals.
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), WazirX asked for assistance. The company announced a Bounty Program to help recover the stolen assets.
Initially, it offered $10,000 worth of USDT for actionable intelligence that leads to freezing the funds, and a 5% incentive of the recovered amount as a white hat reward.
In response to the recent cyber attack on one of our multisig wallets, we're announcing a Bounty Program to recover the stolen assets. We invite the community to participate in:
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 21, 2024
Bounty 1: Track & Freeze — offering rewards up to $10,000 worth of USDT for actionable intelligence… pic.twitter.com/vxNQiZlJwM
However, this initial reward was criticized by netizens for being insufficient. In response, the reward was increased to $11.5 million.
"lol $234 million stolen and bounty $10,000. Is it some joke?" a user wrote.
lol $234 million stolen and bounty $10,000. Is it some joke?
— Arthur (@nft_arthur_) July 21, 2024
This is not enough... need more clarification 💥
— pradyumna bitcoineer (@cryptoprady) July 21, 2024
Founder Nischal Shetty further raised the bounty to $23 million (approximately Rs 192 crore).
“The total bounty has been updated to $23M. Thanks zachxbt for the suggestion,” Shetty wrote on X.
The total bounty has been updated to $23M thanks @zachxbt for the suggestion 🙏 https://t.co/qzaqwAuLod
— Nischal (Shardeum) 🔼 (@NischalShetty) July 21, 2024
The program runs for three months and is open to all, excluding WazirX employees and their families.