Indian exchange WazirX is set to restart crypto trading and withdrawals for the first time since the July 2024 hack. Here’s the full schedule.
WazirX Trading Restart Will Begin Rolling Out This Friday
As announced in a new blogpost, WazirX is finally gearing up to restart trading. The crypto platform has been inoperational since July 2024, when it fell prey to a massive $235 million hack. User funds have remained stuck with WazirX in this period, but with the exchange now rolling out a restart, creditors should at last be able to get their digital assets back.
According to the blog post, the platform will enable trading in phases over four days, starting October 24th and reaching full activation by October 27th. Each day, around 25% of all tokens will go on listing. During this initial rollout, all tokens will be available for trading in the USDT market, but INR trading pairs outside of USDT/INR will be gradually enabled later. WazirX explained:
This phased rollout will help restore liquidity safely, confirm technical stability, and ensure a gradual and reliable return to normal trading across all market pairs.
The Indian exchange is also set to offer zero trading fees for the first 30 days of the restart, with a potential extension depending on how the community responds to it.
The trading restart announcement comes a day after WazirX reopened both INR and crypto deposits. Although the blog post contained no clarification about when withdrawals will start, the platform’s founder and CEO, Nischal Shetty, has shared the relevant info in an X post.
Shetty has noted that INR withdrawals are already live on the exchange, with crypto withdrawals beginning alongside the trading restart on Friday. “We will continue to add more tokens to the trading and withdrawal list,” said the WazirX CEO.
WazirX’s reopening arrives after several months of proceedings in Singapore’s High Court, where the platform’s parent company, Zettai Pte Ltd, a Singaporean entity, had to obtain the green light for a restructuring scheme.
The High Court finally approved the scheme earlier this month, and WazirX made it active on October 15th. The exchange had promised a restart within 10 business days, and with the plan to restart on October 24th, it appears to be right on schedule.
In July of this year, CoinDCX, another major Indian crypto exchange, also suffered a breach. Hackers stole around $44 million in digital assets, but in this case, the tokens came from the exchange’s own internal treasury, not user funds.
The timing of the hack was eerie, as it occurred exactly one year and one day after the WazirX incident. The WazirX hack has been linked with the North Korean Lazarus Group, and CoinDCX’s event is also suspected to involve the same or a similar entity.
Bitcoin Price
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $109,400, down 1.7% over the past week.
