WazirX Receives 80 Intentions to Recover Stolen Shiba Inu and More in Bounty Program

WazirX, one of the largest exchanges in India, has received up to 80 intentions from individuals looking to help recover the stolen Shiba Inu tokens and other assets for the bounty program.

Following the recent hack, the exchange announced a bounty program aimed at recovering $230 million in stolen assets, including $100 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB). WazirX rolled out a two-bounty program. The first, known as the “track and freeze,” offers up market participants up to $10,000 for information that helps in freezing the assets.

The second part of the bounty program is a “white hat recovery” bounty, which seeks the help of ethical hackers. Participants in this program can earn up to 10% of the amount they help recover, with the total cap for rewards recently increased to $23 million following community feedback.

As per the announcement, the bounty program is set to run for three months from the date of the announcement. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), WazirX called on white hat hackers and blockchain and cybersecurity experts from around the world to join this important mission. So far, the exchange has received 80 white hat hackers’ applications.

We've received over 80 intents for our bounty program within 24 hours.

Time is critical. We urgently need more support from our ecosystem, security professionals, and ethical hackers.

While $23 million is the bounty, your impact on the community is invaluable.

Bounty details… pic.twitter.com/yUeeDjpujj

— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 22, 2024

The WazirX Attack

WazirX faced a major cyberattack on July 18, losing funds in several cryptocurrencies, including around $100 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens. The incident coincided with a sudden 8.5% drop in the SHIB’s value.

Other stolen funds included $52 million in Ether (ETH), $11 million in Polygon (MATIC), and around $13 million in other cryptocurrencies like FLOKI, Chainlink (LINK), Fantom (FTM), and Fetch.ai (FET). However, since the breach, the WazirX attacker has converted the majority of the stolen funds into Ether and transferred them to different wallets.

The impact of the cyberattack has been severe, affecting WazirX’s ability to maintain a 1:1 collateral with assets. As a result, the exchange has temporarily paused all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. Additionally, trading activities have been halted to allow for a comprehensive security audit.

While WazirX has not provided a specific timeline for resuming normal operations, the exchange has assured its users that it is actively working on enabling fund withdrawals as soon as possible.

Nischal Shetty, co-founder of WazirX, recently stated that his exchange is reaching out to over 500 other exchanges globally to block the addresses associated with the stolen assets.