The crypto sector in India is comprised of both national and international exchanges, offering hundreds of cryptocurrencies for investors, similar to trading on the stock market. This week, Mumbai-based WazirX, a widely used crypto exchange in India, fell prey to cybercriminals who managed to steal over $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,924 crore) from its reserves. In the aftermath of the hack, prices of most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether, saw a considerable drop in prices on crypto exchanges in the country.
While WazirX’s team continues to investigate the matter, Gadgets360 discussed the situation with other crypto exchanges in the country to inquire about the status of users on their respective platforms. In the aftermath of the WazirX hack, these platforms were worried about rapid withdrawals as investors express their concerns online. However, the fears appear to have been unfounded, according to these crypto exchanges, based on activity observed over the last 24 hours.
In conversation with Gadgets360, CoinSwitch business head, Balaji Srihari said, “We have not observed any significant increase in withdrawals following this unfortunate incident.”
CoinDCX and Mudrex have also claimed that their respective platforms have not experienced any unusual activity since Thursday.
Giottus crypto exchange CEO and Founder Arjun Vijay claims that the WazirX hack may result in its users moving out of its ecosystem, towards other exchanges.
“The crypto sector, globally, is currently on a bull run. Internationally, BTC is trading at $64,130 (roughly Rs. 53.6 lakh). It is unlikely that investors will choose to run away from the market right now. This may result in other exchanges ramping up their userbases in the coming weeks,” he said in a statement to Gadgets 360.
After the news about WazirX’s wallet hack spread, its rival exchanges took to social networking platforms to assure their respective users about the safety of their funds being intact.
However, the crypto sector now expects some repercussions from the government especially because this incident happened just five days before the Union Budget for FY 2024-2025 is announced on July 23. Prior to this incident, the industry had been urging for incentives and benefits for Web3 startups and revisions in crypto taxes. Financial authorities have yet to publicly react to WazirX’s hack.