Singapore High Court Greenlights WazirX Restructuring After $234 Million Hack
The Singapore High Court has approved WazirX’s restructuring plan, marking a pivotal step for the crypto exchange as it works to restore operations and compensate over 150,000 affected users following last year’s $234 million security breach.
The decision follows weeks of negotiations with creditors, who recently endorsed a revised recovery proposal. With court approval now secured, WazirX can move ahead with distributing recovery tokens and gradually relaunching its trading platform.
“Thank you to everyone who supported this difficult phase of WazirX. The Singapore High Court has approved the scheme,” wrote WazirX founder Nischal Shetty on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s your support and love that has made this possible.”
The ruling represents a major breakthrough for the India-based exchange, which has spent more than a year navigating legal and regulatory complexities to repay users impacted by the massive hack.
Hack Linked to North Korean Lazarus Group
The July 2024 attack, which targeted a Safe Multisig wallet, resulted in the loss of roughly $234 million in digital assets and forced WazirX to suspend withdrawals.
Cybersecurity analysts later tied the breach to the North Korean Lazarus Group — a collective notorious for orchestrating high-profile crypto thefts using similar techniques.
Earlier this year, creditors had voted in favor of a repayment plan that aimed to accelerate compensation, warning that failure to secure approval could delay refunds until 2030. However, the court initially rejected the plan, citing uncertainty around how WazirX’s recovery tokens would align with Singapore’s evolving digital asset regulations.
Exchange Eyes Relaunch, but Timelines Differ
Following the recent court approval, the company plans to revive its operations and initiate repayments in phases.
In August, Shetty suggested that users could begin receiving their funds within 10 days once the scheme takes effect. Yet, experts involved in the process remain cautious.
According to George Gwee, director at restructuring firm Kroll, which is advising WazirX, repayments may realistically take between two and three months after implementation.
