For hack victims, CoinSwitch will Propose a Recovery Plan Worth INR 600 Cr

Nitin Konde, Varun Bhardwaj

Jan 9, 2025 — 3 min read

CoinSwitch Announces INR 600 Cr Recovery Plan for Hack Victims

To help users of WazirX, a compromised cryptocurrency exchange that suffered a huge $230 million (INR 1,900 crore) cyberattack last year, cryptocurrency unicorn CoinSwitch has started an INR 600 cr recovery scheme. The company hopes to assist impacted individuals in compensating for their losses, depositing money to benefit from the current cryptocurrency market boom, and receiving incentives through the program called "CoinSwitch Cares." Cybercriminals from North Korea are said to have breached WazirX in July 2024, removing over $234 million in cryptocurrency assets from one of its wallets. Over 4 million Indian customers suffered significant losses as a result of the cyberattack, which also damaged confidence in the country's cryptocurrency market.

Smart Move by CoinSwitch to Allure WazirX Users

In essence, the project is an attempt by the cryptocurrency platform to acquire WazirX users. Ashish Singhal, cofounder and CEO of CoinSwitch, stated during a virtual "Ask Me Anything" session that the company has launched the CoinSwitch Cares program in an effort to rebuild the trust of the Indian cryptocurrency community. Users affected by the WazirX attack can now assess their losses on the CoinSwitch Cares page and upload statements for verification.

How the Entire Recovery System will Work?

There will be three parts to the recovery program. Users can earn up to 10% of the money invested through this program over the next two years with the help of the first part, Assured Signup Rewards. In order to benefit from the scheme, users affected by the WazirX theft have two options: deposit money to CoinSwitch right away or wait for the Nischal Shetty-led company to completely resume withdrawals on the platform.

The second feature is revenue redistribution, which enables CoinSwitch to divide trading profits from the recovery program among impacted users based on their respective losses. Referral Rewards, which helps users earn up to 5% of the deposited funds by referring WazirX hack victims, comes in third.

Recent Updates on WazirX

WazirX had $566.38 million in liquid assets as of December 5, 2024. Customers have sued the business for $546.47 million in damages. It is important to remember that CoinSwitch said last year that it will sue WazirX in an attempt to recoup 2% of its money that is still in the hands of the compromised cryptocurrency exchange. WazirX is expected to fully restart cryptocurrency withdrawals on the platform by the middle of April this year, as multiple media outlets reported. It is seeking a plan of arrangement in Singapore to start business again. Through tokenisation and rebalancing, the suggested plan seeks to provide WazirX users with liquidity and extra recoveries. Following the scheme's approval and sanction, WazirX will distribute recovery tokens to all of its customers and release liquid assets valued at $284 million.

Zettai Pte Ltd Coming Up with Decentralised Exchange

In order to start recovery efforts, Zettai Pte Ltd, the parent company of Zanmai Labs, the company that runs WazirX, is creating a new decentralised exchange (DEX) at the same time. On the next platform, the business intends to introduce capabilities including futures trading and cryptocurrency staking. WazirX lifted the ban on INR withdrawals from the platform in August of last year, albeit gradually and with a 66% cap. These events coincide with an investigation of the WazirX attack by a number of government organisations, including the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Intelligence Bureau.