$230 Million (₹1,924.41 Crore) vanish from Indian crypto exchange WazirX in suspected North Korean hack

Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has been hit by a security breach, resulting in the loss of over $230 million worth of crypto assets. The stolen assets include SHIB and FLOKI tokens, among others. WazirX confirmed the breach and suspended INR and crypto withdrawals to protect user funds.

According to a tweet from the company, the security issue involves one of their Liminal multisig wallets. Multisig wallets require two or more keys to authorize transactions, making them a more secure storage option compared to traditional single-key wallets.

Reports, along with insights from other sources and experts, indicate that the stolen tokens have already been swapped for Ether using decentralized services. Some sources, including Elliptic, attribute the attack to North Korean hackers. North Korea has been linked to several large-scale crypto hacks in recent years, including a $615 million theft from the Ronin Network in March 2022.

The full impact of the WazirX breach is still under investigation. WazirX (established in 2018) is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in India, which goes on to show that even big, established platforms aren't really safe today.