WazirX Returns to India’s Crypto Market After Sixteen Months of Silence and a Major Cyberattack
WazirX resumes operations after a $230M hack, unveiling new security systems and a phased relaunch.
India’s largest homegrown cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX, is set to reopen after a sixteen-month suspension triggered by one of the most damaging cyberattacks in the country’s crypto history. The exchange will resume trading on October 24, 2025, marking the end of a prolonged restructuring effort and the start of a cautious return to normal operations.
The 2024 breach, attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, drained more than two hundred thirty million dollars from WazirX’s multi-signature wallets and forced an immediate halt to trading and withdrawals. The shockwave of the attack rippled through India’s crypto community, prompting regulatory scrutiny and widespread loss of user confidence. In the aftermath, the company’s parent firm, Zettai Pte. Ltd., underwent a court-approved reorganization in Singapore with the support of nearly all its creditors.
WazirX’s relaunch follows a phased plan designed to restore liquidity and stability. The exchange will initially reopen with a limited number of crypto-to-crypto pairs, beginning with the USDT/INR market. To encourage users to return, WazirX announced that all trading fees will be waived during the first thirty days of the relaunch. Each day between October 24 and 27, a quarter of the supported tokens will be reactivated, culminating in full operational capacity by October 27.
The company said order placement will begin at 10 a.m. India Standard Time, with live trading starting at 5 p.m. The deliberate rollout, executives explained, aims to ensure system reliability while monitoring performance and liquidity in real time. Additional INR trading pairs are expected to be added gradually once the exchange demonstrates consistent uptime and secure settlement performance.
Security has been the central focus of WazirX’s recovery. The exchange has partnered with BitGo, a U.S.-based digital asset custodian, to implement institutional-grade protection for user funds. The upgraded framework includes enhanced multi-signature wallets, segregated storage for client assets, and 24-hour monitoring to detect abnormal transaction patterns.
As part of the recovery effort, the platform has also completed token swaps, delistings, and blockchain migrations to align with its new structure. Impacted users will receive Recovery Tokens reflecting lost balances, while creditors are expected to obtain token distributions within ten business days of the relaunch.
In a public statement, WazirX emphasized that the relaunch represents not only a technical milestone but also a renewed commitment to transparency and trust. The exchange pledged to publish periodic audits of reserves and custody operations, echoing a wider industry movement toward verifiable proof of assets following several high-profile security failures in recent years.
The reopening of WazirX arrives at a time when India’s cryptocurrency market is slowly regaining momentum amid global policy reforms and domestic discussions over digital asset regulation. By returning with stronger safeguards and a phased approach, WazirX aims to rebuild confidence and reaffirm its place at the center of India’s growing digital economy.
