Indian Crypto Exchange Hack Sends SHIB, WRX Tumbling as Bitcoin, Tether Trade at Massive Discount

• WazirX's native token WRX slumped 15% in dollar terms.
• SHIB has lost 6% since the attacker drained $100 million worth of the token from the Indian exchange.
• Most coins, including market leader bitcoin and tether, are trading at a significant discount on WazirX.

Cryptocurrencies stolen in a malicious attack at Indian exchange WazirX early Thursday, as well as the platform's native token, are experiencing significant losses in their market values after the hack drained roughly 50% of the exchange's reserves.

The exchange has temporarily paused withdrawals.

WazirX's WRX token is trading 15% lower at just over 14 cents, according to Coingecko data. The rupee-denominated price has slumped more than 25% since the exchange confirmed the hack that saw the attacker walk away with $230 million in customer funds, including $100 million in shiba inu {{SHIB}}. The attacker also drained $52 million in ether {{ETH}}, $11 million in MATIC and $6 million in PEPE.

Since then, SHIB has lost over 6% in market value in U.S. dollar terms while trading 16% lower in rupee terms amid reports the hacker is liquidating the coins. Blockchain data suggests the attacker is offloading SHIB, putting downward pressure on its market value.

BREAKING: WazirX exploiter publishes update on token selling, claims they are selling "in a way that is fair and gentle on the market"

— HCH (@HeartCanHodl) July 18, 2024

Other tokens have held relatively steady in dollar terms while suffering significant losses in the exchange's INR pairs.

Notably, the bitcoin-rupee (BTC/INR) pair has declined by 11% to 5.1 million rupees ($60,945), trading at a massive discount to prices on rival exchange CoinDCX, where the cryptocurrency changed hands at 5.7 million rupees. BTC's global average dollar-denominated price traded 1% higher on the day at $61,800. The largest cryptocurrency by market value is priced around $64,900 according to CoinDesk Indices data.

Meanwhile, the USDT-INR pair (USDT) on WazirX has slipped by 8%.

The discounts in BTC, USDT and other cryptocurrencies on WazirX likely reflect panic selling by investors and the rush for fiat/cash in the wake of the hack.