The Indian authorities have made a decision major breakthrough in the investigation into the July cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, which resulted in the theft of more than $234 million in digital assets.
The Delhi The police A special cell arrested SK Masud Alam, a resident of West Bengal, for allegedly facilitating the attack by creating a fake account.
Alam was apprehended from East Midnapore, West Bengal and is accused to use the nickname Souvik Mondal to open a WazirX account, which was then sold via Telegram to another person, M Hasan, local point of sale India Today reported THURSDAY.
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Pirates drain WazirX’s Warm wallet
Hacking operation reportedly exhausted WazirX’s Hot Wallet and attempted to access its cold wallet, which keeps funds offline for added security.
As part of the investigation, police seized three laptops used by allowed signatories of the the platform multi-signature wallet system.
A chargesheet filed by Delhi Police revealed complications in the investigation, citing alleged non-cooperation by Liminal Custody, a company responsible for securing WazirX’s wallets.
According to the indictmentLiminal has not responded to several notices requesting critical data, raising questions about its security measures. Authorities said additional indictment would further examine Liminal’s role.
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Meanwhile, WazirX has would have fully cooperated with investigators, providing key information such as transaction logs and KYC (Know Your Customer) data.
According to police, there is no evidence to suggest unauthorized local or remote access to the platform’s systems.
The July 18 cyberattack resulted in the theft of approximately 45% of WazirX’s assets, equivalent to Rs 2,000 crore. The breach exploited vulnerabilities in a multi-signature wallet setup involving six signers: five from WazirX and one from Liminal Custody.
Launched in 2018, WazirX is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in India. It allows users to trade digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
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RBI Governor reaffirms support for CBDC
Last month, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) highlighted the need to reduce the time and costs associated with sending remittances abroad while expand the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system to handle transactions in major currencies.
At the Central Banking at Crossroads conference, Governor Shaktikanta Das highlighted the role that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could play in improving cross-border payments.
The RBI Governor also highlighted the potential of CBDCs to facilitate efficient cross-border payments. India is one of the few countries who have spear wholesale and retail versions of CBDCs.
As reported, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed controversial crypto tax regulations during the announcement of the budget for the 2024-2025 financial year.
Despite intense lobbying from the cryptocurrency industry, which has presented substantial evidence to argue for a reduction in the tax withholding tax (TDS) policy from 1% to 0.01% , the existing rules remain unchanged.
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