Indian exchange WazirX hit by $235 million hack, North Korea link suspected

Blockchain security firm Cyvers Alert reported that the Indian exchange WazirX was exploited for around $235 million.

Cyvers stated:

“Our system has detected multiple suspicious transactions involving [WazirX’s] Safe Multisig wallet on the ETH network. A total of $234.9M of your funds have been moved to a new address. Each transaction’s caller is funded by Tornado Cash.”

Blockchain analyst Lookonchain reported that the stolen assets included 5.43 trillion SHIB tokens (worth $102 million), 15,298 ETH (valued at $52.5 million), 20.5 million MATIC (worth $11.24 million), 640.27 billion $PEPE (worth $7.6 million), 5.79 million USDT, and 135 million GALA (worth $3.5 million).

It added that the attacker was selling and converting those assets to ETH.

In a July 18 post on X, the crypto trading platform confirmed that one of its multisig wallets experienced a security breach that resulted in losing an undisclosed sum.

The firm added:

“Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused.”

WazirX is one of the largest crypto trading platforms in India. Last year, the firm was involved in a public spat over its ownership structure, with WazirX’s founder, Nischal Shetty, insisting that Binance had acquired the exchange. However, Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, vehemently denied these claims.

North Korea link

Meanwhile, Cyvers suggested that North Korea-backed hacker Group Lazarus might be involved in the attack.

Deddy Lavid, the Co-founder & CEO of Cyvers Alert, told CryptoSlate:

“The use of TornadoCash to fund the transactions is indicative of methods used in previous high-profile attacks. While it is too early to definitively link this incident to the Lazarus Group, the similarities are concerning.”

Over the past few years, Lazarus Group has emerged as one of the most notorious hacking groups targeting the crypto industry. A Chainalysis report estimated that the North Korean hackers have stolen over $3 billion in the past five years.