WazirX unveils fund recovery plan after $230 mn cyberattack

WazirX, in a first by an Indian crypto exchange, will socialise the loss and distribute its impact across all the users on the platform, according to reports.

The firm said in a blog that it is implementing a fair and transparent socialised loss strategy to distribute the impact across all users equitably.

"In similar situations, users have often faced years of uncertainty and limited access to funds. Our 55/45 approach offers a faster, more flexible solution," it added in the blog.

WazirX said 55 percent of user’s crypto assets on the platform will be made available for trading and/or withdrawals, so if a user has not been impacted by the cyberattack, even then their portfolio will get access to only 55 percent of their asset.

"Users with 100 percent of their tokens in the ‘not stolen’ category will receive 55 percent of those tokens back. The remaining 45 per cent will be converted to USDT-equivalent tokens and locked," the crypto firm said. "This is part of our fair and transparent socialised loss strategy to distribute the impact equitably."

WazirX said that it will convert the remaining 45 percent of the user's assets to tether-equivalent tokens and lock them.

As per WazirX, for users who lost their crypto investment portfolio, the firm will create an unlocked portion of 55 percent of the user's investment by deriving the value from assets available on the platform.

WazirX will use a combination of existing tokens available on the platform to create a crypto portfolio, making up 55 percent of the lost value, for users who have lost between 45 percent and 99.9 percent of their tokens, the firm said, adding that the time required to unlock the locked tokens on the platform is undefined.

“Unlocking of locked tokens will be subject to ongoing recovery efforts. This includes tracing and recovering stolen assets, collaborating with partners to cover the deficit, and exploring compensation methods, including potential airdrops,” said WazirX, adding that users’ funds in Indian rupee are not affected, and these users do not register a vote as part of the recovery plan.

WazirX announced the roll out of the fund recovery plans days after the initial security breach was detected on the crypto platform, following which the company has temporarily paused trading and withdrawals for users on its platform.

The company stated in a blog published last week that its preliminary investigation found no evidence that its signer machines were compromised, while shifting the blame to its wallet service provider Liminal, as per reports.