A pretty big event happened in India last month: About ₹2,000 crore (about $230,000,000) worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from a wallet associated with the WazirX exchange. Unfortunately, this incident has not only affected and stranded thousands of investors but has also revealed the weaknesses of the uncharted crypto space.
Digital forensics companies Pelorus Technology and Crystal Intelligence have been hired to help solve the discrepancies in this dramatic case. Their findings explain how the perpetrator, who dealt with the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, ensured the anonymity of the stolen money.
The thief sold the stolen cryptocurrencies for other altcoins and spread the received coins across other wallets connected to two different exchanges: sometimes, there were even 2000 transactions per day. Thus, the larger portion of the stolen money is claimed to have been vested in three different wallets, all of which are currently under the authorities’ observation.
As the investigation goes on, the Indian crypto community and a global audience interested in decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies will have to monitor further events and explore the consequences of this huge-scale theft, the constant struggle for asset protection in the rather ambiguous and still unregulated sphere.
