WazirX to Phase In Indian Rupee Withdrawals Starting Aug. 26

As a seasoned analyst with years of experience in the volatile world of cryptocurrency, I find myself both relieved and cautiously optimistic about WazirX’s decision to resume rupee withdrawals. Having witnessed numerous incidents of hacks and exploits in this industry, I understand the gravity of the situation that WazirX finds itself in.

After the hack in July that resulted in a loss of approximately $230 million, WazirX – an Indian cryptocurrency exchange – has announced that they will begin enabling restricted rupee withdrawals following a temporary halt post the security breach incident.

Starting from Monday and continuing over the following month, users can gradually withdraw up to 66% of their rupee balances. From August 26th to September 8th, they will be able to withdraw half of this limit, while the remaining amount will become accessible between September 9th and September 22nd.

WazirX stated that Zanmai Labs, the entity handling its rupee operations, was untouched by the attack and possessed enough resources to cover the accounts. However, they had to hold 34% of the funds due to ongoing investigations by authorities. The release date for these restricted funds remains uncertain, they added.

The exchange explained that users have been unable to withdraw their cryptocurrency for some time and unfortunately, they can’t just restart these withdrawals. This is because a cyberattack led to a substantial loss of ERC-20 tokens, which were stolen. As a result, there aren’t enough token assets left in our possession to cover the liabilities stemming from the token balances owed to platform users.