WazirX Eyes Relaunch in 10 Days After Court Decision

Indian crypto exchange WazirX is preparing to restart its trading platform, pending a final decision from Singapore’s High Court on its restructuring and customer payout plan.

WazirX said its parent company, Singapore-based Zettai, completed all necessary steps ahead of a sanction hearing that will determine whether the platform can move forward with reopening.

The exchange suffered a $230 million hack in July 2024 after attackers breached its multi-signature wallet. Investigators linked the exploit to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which was also behind the $1.4 billion Bybit attack. Much of the stolen crypto has since been funneled through mixers to hide its origin—a tactic often tied to Lazarus.

Earlier this month, WazirX said a large majority of creditors backed the proposed restructuring plan. Roughly 93% of voters, representing over 94% of the total claims, approved Zettai’s proposal. The deal includes an estimated 85.3% payout on lost balances and the issuance of Recovery Tokens to help users reclaim more value over time.

The approval avoids a scenario in which repayments might have stretched into 2030, a warning WazirX issued earlier this year if the plan failed. Under the new structure, WazirX will repay users through a mix of stablecoin distributions and newly created recovery tokens. The tokens give creditors a stake in future platform revenues and potential asset recoveries.

The company said it continues to pursue stolen assets through legal and forensic channels.

If the court signs off on the plan, WazirX said it will resume trading and begin customer payouts within 10 business days. “We’ve stuck to our internal roadmap,” the exchange said Monday, “but court timelines are outside our control.”

The proposed scheme will distribute assets in the form of tokens, covering 85% of user balances as of July 18, 2024, at 1 PM IST—the date of the breach. The distribution process is set to begin within 10 business days of the scheme being approved, which WazirX claims would be among the fastest recoveries in the crypto industry.

WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty described the result as a turning point as the team is prioritizing fund recovery and future profit sharing to compensate affected users. “The people have spoken,” Shetty said in an X post. “We will work hard on rebuilding and creating value for everyone.”