Deniz 
Dealing with the aftermath of a recent hack, which saw $230 million taken from its wallet due to a private key compromise on July 18, WazirX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has stopped trading throughout its platform.
Impact on Collaterals and User Safety
WazirX noted in an X news post, “The cyber attack theft has impacted our ability to maintain 1:1 collaterals with assets, and we have temporarily paused trading.” At the moment, WazirX’s wallets had millions of MATIC tokens, PEPE tokens, USDT tokens, GALA tokens, and Shiba Inu tokens valued at almost $100 million. Since most of the stolen assets have been turned into ether, the hacker—who evidence points to may be the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group—has gone silent.
Bounty Program and ZachXBT’s Involvement
Inviting cybersecurity and blockchain professionals to “join this critical mission and protect the integrity of the crypto ecosystem,” WazirX also revealed the creation of a bounty program for help with locating, freezing, or returning the cash. Originally offering 5% of the recovered money as an incentive for helping with its complete return, the company then upped the prize to 10% based on comments from blockchain detective ZachXBT, per their post. For “actionable intelligence that leads to the freezing of the funds,” the corporation is also providing “up to $10,000 worth of USDT.” Though that period may change, the program will run for three months.
Rarity of Recoveries from Lazarus Group
If it is actually Lazarus Group, then “$10 million bounty means nothing since they are not going to merely hand over the money or be discovered and legally liable. 5% is less than the 10%+ industry average,” ZachXBT noted. Writing, “I do not have the resources to follow a potential Lazarus group hack like this 24/7 as it requires many hours,” ZachXBT also clarified, stating he himself would not be helping with the probe. Recoveries from hacks involving the Lazarus Group are remarkably rare, as ZachXBT observed. Chainalysis highlighted that it was the first time money connected to North Korea’s hacking outfit had been captured when $30 million was recovered in September 2022 from the infamous Lazarus outfit-linked $600 million hack of the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge. Though not all hope is lost for WazirX, “We’re confident it won’t be the last,” Erin Plante, senior director of investigations at Chainalysis, stated at the time.
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