WazirX announces INR withdrawals, provides update for crypto holders

Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has announced that customers will be able to withdraw their Indian rupee balances starting August 26.

The WazirX team announced on August 23 that customers will not yet be able to access their crypto balances for withdrawals. This update comes after the exchange halted all withdrawals following a $230 million hack in July.

According to WazirX, the decision to suspend withdrawals and transactions was taken to “mitigate the impact” and evaluate the next steps to resolve the situation for its customers.

The latest update addresses two primary concerns of the exchange’s users: crypto and INR balances, which dominated the sentiment following a controversial proposal to socialize the exchange’s losses.

Cryptocurrency withdrawals? Not yet

Regarding user crypto balances, WazirX stated that it suffered significant losses during the attack. Current crypto assets are not sufficient to cover user liabilities, making it impossible to restart crypto withdrawals at this time.

The exchange also believes that it would be best to do this fairly, with a “legally binding solution” considered where possible.

WazirX is therefore pursuing the Singapore Scheme of Arrangement, a restructuring process under the country’s bankruptcy laws and regulations. WazirX creditors will have to approve the proposal before the process can take effect. Users will be hoping for a speedy resolution, otherwise, they could face another long wait similar to the Mt. Gox process that took nearly a decade.

Part of the next step will be to appeal to the High Court of Singapore.

INR withdrawals will start again

While WazirX users with crypto balances had to wait during the $230 million hack, the situation is a bit different for customers with INR balances. The exchange wrote:

“After careful consideration and understanding of all the feedback from users, we are happy to announce that the suspension on withdrawal of INR balances will be lifted on August 26, 2024 and INR withdrawals will be enabled in a phased manner.”

The phased withdrawal plan will allow users to withdraw half of their balance between August 26 and September 8, 2024, and the entire balance between September 9 and 22, 2024. WazirX will also reduce the withdrawal fee by 60% from INR 25 (approximately $0.30) to INR 10 ($0.12).