WazirX’s 55/45 Loss-Sharing Poll Closed Under Backlash

WazirX’s user poll on a proposed 55/45 loss-sharing program concluded on August 3, 2024, leaving the Indian cryptocurrency exchange without a settled path for reopening after a major asset theft.

The exchange had launched the consultation on July 27 after reporting that approximately $230 million—equivalent to 45% of user funds—was stolen in a July 18 cyberattack. Its proposal would make 55% of each customer’s crypto assets available for trading or withdrawal, depending on the option selected, while converting the remaining 45% into what WazirX called USDT-equivalent tokens and locking them.

Moneycontrol reported on August 3 that the week-long poll had produced substantial customer opposition and that WazirX had decided to slow its proposed implementation. That account relied on unnamed sources. WazirX had not published vote totals, participation figures or a final recovery decision by the end of August 3.

What customers were asked to accept

The proposed program did not simply separate stolen assets from unaffected holdings. WazirX said it intended to socialize the shortfall across its user base. Even a customer whose individual portfolio consisted entirely of tokens categorized as unaffected would initially receive access to only 55% of those holdings; the remaining value would be locked to help rebalance customers whose portfolios contained more stolen tokens.

For the accessible portion, the exchange proposed constructing a balanced basket from crypto assets still available on the platform. Values would be determined using average prices from CoinMarketCap and selected global exchanges at 8:30 p.m. India Standard Time on July 21, 2024. WazirX did not identify every contributing exchange or publish a reproducible calculation for each customer’s basket in the reviewed event-day materials.

Customers faced two operational choices. Option A would permit trading and holding but not withdrawals, while giving the customer priority in future recovery efforts. Option B would permit trading and withdrawals but place recovery claims behind those of Option A participants. WazirX said users could later move from Option A to Option B; movement in the other direction was restricted after trading or withdrawal activity.

Those choices mattered because they connected immediate access to uncertain future recoveries. They did not constitute a bankruptcy distribution, judicially approved restructuring or independently supervised creditor vote.

A poll without binding authority

WazirX clarified on July 29 that the poll was preliminary, was not legally binding on either users or the platform and was intended only to gather opinions. Business Standard had reported that responses would be collected through August 3. The consultation therefore measured preferences about an exchange-designed reopening framework; it did not authorize WazirX to extinguish claims or establish customers’ legal entitlements.

The distinction became central on August 3. Moneycontrol described the exchange as returning to the drawing board and attributed the retreat to customer backlash. That was credible contemporaneous reporting, but it was not an official WazirX announcement formally cancelling the program. The defensible event-day conclusion is narrower: the poll closed, the 55/45 proposal faced strong resistance, and no final plan had been established.

No reliable public result disclosed how many eligible customers voted, how balances were weighted, whether each account received one vote or how duplicate and inactive accounts were treated. Claims that a particular percentage rejected the plan therefore cannot be verified from the reviewed record.

Later clarification

On August 8, 2024, WazirX announced that it would restore account balances and reverse trades conducted after withdrawals were stopped at 1 p.m. India Standard Time on July 18. That subsequent action confirms that the exchange did not immediately carry the polled 55/45 framework into effect. It does not retroactively turn the August 3 consultation into a binding vote or resolve the amount, ownership and recovery prospects of the missing assets.