Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX’s Safe Multisig wallet on the Ethereum network was hacked on July 18, 2024, resulting in stolen assets worth $230 million. Mumbai-based WazirX sources its services from Liminal, which has stated that the rest of the wallets remain intact.
The security breach prompted the platform to get on the wheels, contact law enforcement agencies, ask 500 crypto exchanges to block the identified address, and eventually announce a $23M bounty program for the recovery-one of the largest ever-offered bounties in the crypto sector.
The hacker obtained the required signatures for the transaction by modifying the transaction payload, through which they initiated a malicious payment that got rejected through a tracked fake signature. The attacker had already gained authorization by the point and eventually, the malicious and unauthorized transaction was approved. So the attacker compromised three WazirX devices throughout the process.
The bounty program will be divided into two types, with Track & Freeze offering rewards up to $10,000 in USDT for quick information, and White Hat Recovery up to 10% of the recovered amount for ethical hacking. Blockchain forensics experts, cybersecurity professionals, and white hat hackers have been invited from all over the world to participate. It will potentially get extended from its original 3-month duration if it produces desired outcomes.
