2 Years of the ₹2,000 Cr WazirX Hack: The Money Never Came Back. Neither Did the Founder

Two years after the July 18, 2024 exploit that drained roughly ₹2,000 crore ($230–235 million) from WazirX, the Indian crypto exchange still faces a stark reality: only about 1.3% of stolen assets have been recovered, the founder has not appeared before any Indian court, and users holding Recovery Tokens have seen no buyback payouts.

The breach, attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, was enabled by a malicious smart contract deployed eight days before activation. Three senior signers at WazirX approved a spoofed transaction on a Ledger hardware wallet, bypassing the device's own verification screen. Custody partner Liminal also signed off.

Two forensic investigations—one by Mandiant for WazirX, another by Grant Thornton for Liminal—reached opposing conclusions about which side was responsible. No independent authority reconciled them, leaving the technical cause unresolved.

Restructuring and Compensation Gaps

WazirX's Singapore-based parent, Zettai Pte Ltd, completed a court-supervised restructuring that returned about 85% of approved claims at July 18, 2024 reference prices. The remaining 15% was converted into non-tradable Recovery Tokens issued in January 2026. Through two full quarters, no buyback or quarterly report has been published, and tokens cannot be sold or transferred.

While the restructuring won 95.7% approval from voting creditors, participation was just 3.3% of total creditors in the first vote. In June 2025, the Singapore High Court noted the exchange had misled users in post-hack communications.

Founder's Absence and Asset Moves

Co-founder Nischal Shetty moved to Dubai in April 2022, predating the hack. Since July 2024, there is no public record of him appearing before any Indian court or agency. Corporate filings obtained by The Crypto Times show he transferred 100% ownership of a UAE-linked company to his wife in August 2024, without disclosing to users.

Shetty also built Shardeum, a Layer 1 blockchain, during the restructuring period. After the restart, WazirX listed Shardeum's SHM token and ran contests, with no disclosed financial terms.

Token Performance

WRX, WazirX's native token, trades at approximately $0.0188, down over 99.6% from its April 2021 high of $5.94. Daily trading volume is roughly $8,500.

Questions Unanswered

WazirX has not disclosed whether it has generated net profit since restart, what the actual Binance acquisition agreement says, or which individuals signed the malicious transaction. The exchange declined to comment, consistent with its pattern over two years.