WazirX cyber hack of Rs 2000 crore and subsequent mismanagement of its 4.4 million Indian customers by the exchange management dominated the crypto news cycle of 2024. Now, as 2025 has just started, there are fresh twists and turns in the WazirX hack saga, as major Indian based cryptocurrency exchanges are now scattering to acquire as many as WazirX customers post the fallout.
The race for 4.4 million Indian crypto customers has three competitors now-CoinDCX that has offered to acquire WazirX exchange, CoinSwitch that has offered Rs 600 crore reward plan for WazirX users to ditch the exchange and join them and lastly, the management of WazirX that has promised to make the platform fully functional once again in 2025.
In the midst of this corporate quagmire are the 4.4 million users of WazirX from India, whose funds are stranded in the exchange for the past six months, with no clarity for future. Despite big promises from all three Indian exchanges, there is not a flicker of hope for WazirX users that their portfolio will be restored, even in the ongoing bull run.
Cockfight between WazirX, CoinSwitch and CoinDCX to Acquire Users
It was CoinDCX that made the first move, with its co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal expressing their interest in acquiring the entire WazirX platform and its user base. In Gupta’s own words, “We want to help WazirX users. But it’s also dependent on WazirX. If they want to.”
Taking the conversation ahead, Gupta added the disclaimer that their ambitious plan to acquire WazirX platform will hit the legality roadblock as the platform’s status is currently sub judice in Singapore. For CoinDCX’s acquisition plan to work will largely depend on WazirX management’s willingness to sell the platform to them.
Another surprising move came from CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal who announced a Rs 600 ($75 Million) plan to attract the WazirX users by providing them with lucrative sign-up rewards and higher returns.
Ashish Singhal introduced a plan “CoinSwitch Cares,” offering a Rs 600 crore recovery program for 4.4 million users WazirX users who were affected by the July 2024 cyberattack. The portal ‘coinswitch cares’ is launched specially for the WazirX users where users can calculate their potential recovery, make deposits, and claim rewards through it. To get all these benefits users have to deposit their compensation funds which they will receive from WazirX.
Recently, WazirX’s announced its plans to restart trading operations by mid-April 2025 and launch of a decentralized exchange (DEX) by 2025. However, its users are not that satisfied with this as they already lost trust in the exchange and its founder Nischal Shetty.
Helping WazirX Users or Exploiting Crisis?
While both CoinDCX and CoinSwitch have framed their initiatives as user-centric recovery programs, the timing and aggressive nature of their approaches raise questions about their true motives.
CoinSwitch is a rival exchange to WazirX and their ‘Coinswitch Cares ‘ program has come just before the WazirX’s planned compensation distribution. It appears, that the whole plan was developed to grab the rival exchange users and the funds they receive in compensation.
The strategy is particularly noteworthy as it requires users to deposit their eventual compensation funds with CoinSwitch to receive additional benefits. This approach effectively ensures user loyalty while potentially preventing WazirX from rebuilding its platform post-recovery. Moreover, there is a popular saying in corporate space “Capitalize on your competitor’s weaknesses to strengthen your position.” and WazirX competitors doing the same.
Even WazirX management has been accused of profiteering from the misery of their own customers as Shetty announced mere weeks after the July 2024 hack, that his team will further withdraw Rs 100 crore from remaining user funds for “legal expenses” to fight suits filed by competition exchanges.
Final Thoughts
As WazirX management works toward their deadline of mid-April 2025 to restart WazirX trading and launch of DEX launch, it is unsure whether the lakhs of users would be patient enough to wait for additional four months. This situation also highlights the harsh reality of the corporate world where everyone is ready to capitalize on someone’s misfortune. Only time will tell whether these plans really help the affected users or not.
In investing space there is a popular phrase “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” Where the whole market is fearful regarding the future of WazirX exchange, CoinDCX and CoinSwitch want to take advantage of this opportunity. Which way will users swing?
Also Read: What Went Wrong with WazirX? Unraveling India’s biggest crypto hack
