2 years later and barely anyone talks about the WazirX $235M hack.

July 2024: $230–235 million stolen in one of India’s biggest crypto disasters.
North Korean Lazarus Group tagged as the culprit. Users locked out for 15+ months. Trading frozen. Withdrawals dead.
Nischal Shetty promised to make everyone whole.
Initial plan? Socialise the losses (read: users eat the pain). Backlash hit, they pivoted to Singapore court restructuring.
> October 2025: Court approves. Exchange restarts Oct 24.
> Users get ~85% back (85.5% immediate + Recovery Tokens for the rest).
> Every creditor “got it,” says Nischal in March 2026.
Now? Pin drop silence.
CT has moved on to the next bridge hack, the next yield farm rug, the next DeFi drama.
WazirX is quietly rebuilding, pushing new features, airdrops, token launches. Nischal is out there doing interviews and launching side projects.
This wasn’t just “a hack.” It was a brutal reminder that even India’s biggest CEX ran on fragile multi-sig + third-party custody that failed spectacularly. Blame game with Liminal, partial recovery after a year of limbo, and now everyone acts like it never happened.
While the retail got rugged.
Innovation needs skin in the game and real security, not marketing + court bailouts.
India still needs clear, pro-innovation laws, not the current grey zone that leaves users exposed and exchanges playing catch-up after the money is gone.
Forgotten scams don’t disappear. They just wait for the next cycle.
Demand better custody. Demand transparency. Or keep getting surprised when the next one hits.