WazirX hacker moves $57M in ETH, exchange increases bounty to $23M

The hacker behind the $230 million WazirX exploit has transferred $57 million worth of stolen funds to two new cryptocurrency addresses, prompting the exchange to double its white hat bounty program.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported on July 22 that the hacker moved 16,350 Ether (ETH) worth over $57 million to two new crypto wallets. The majority of the funds, over $54 million, was sent to an address with “0x58d” for initials.

This latest onchain movement represents a significant portion of the $230 million stolen from WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange by volume, in what stands as the second-largest crypto hack of 2024 to date. The transfer of stolen assets to new addresses could potentially reveal important details about the hacker’s identity and methods.

In response to the hack, WazirX has launched two bounty programs aimed at tracking and recovering the stolen funds. The first program offers up to $10,000 in Tether USD (USDT) for “actionable intelligence leading to the freezing of the stolen funds.” The second, a white hat recovery bounty, rewards ethical hackers with up to 10% of any funds they help recover.

A WazirX spokesperson confirms that the upper limit for the white hat bounty has been doubled to $23 million following feedback from the community, highlighting the exchange’s determination to recover the stolen assets and mitigate the impact of the hack on its users.