Wazirx Mess: Court Says “You Break It, You Buy It!” 💸

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Now, ain’t this a pickle? Seems India’s havin’ a bit of a hullabaloo with these new-fangled “cryptos,” and the courts are finally steppin’ in to sort things out. It appears someone forgot to lock the stable door ‘fore the horses bolted-or, in this case, the digital shillings vanished into thin air.

Bombay High Court Ruling: Crypto Folks Need Watchin’

The Bombay High Court, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that Zanmai Labs Private Limited-the folks runnin’ that Wazirx contraption-is responsible for keepin’ track of the money that disappeared after a right proper cyberattack in 2024. Seems about $235 million worth of “ERC-20 tokens” went missin’, which, as far as I can tell, is just a fancy way of sayin’ a lot of folks got robbed. 😠

On October 7th, Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan, a name that’ll no doubt be etched in crypto history, dismissed Zanmai’s appeals. The court order, in language even a simple country lawyer like myself can understand, basically said:

The petitions filed under Section 37 of the Act, and all the attendant interim applications are dismissed.

Which, translated from legalese, means “You’re stuck with it.”

It all started with a cyber breach, a term which I believe translates to “someone got in where they shouldn’t have.” Now, these brokers-Bitcipher Labs (fancy name for Coinswitch, if you ask me) and Nextgendev Solutions-wanted their ₹45 crore back (over $5 million, for those keepin’ score at home).

Zanmai tried pullin’ a fast one, hopin’ to spread the losses across all users through some scheme hatched by their folks in Singapore. The Court, bless its heart, wasn’t buyin’ it. They said Zanmai couldn’t just shuffle the responsibility like a card shark. They even tried blamin’ Binance-a former partner-for the security mess. Seems mighty convenient, don’t it? 🤨

The Court rightly pointed out Wazirx and Zanmai were as thick as thieves, so both were liable for keepin’ people’s digital fortunes safe. They’d already docked the affected tokens by 45% before tellin’ Zanmai to pony up a bank guarantee for the brokers.

Now, this here judgment is a big deal. It sets a precedent, see? Means these crypto exchanges can’t just act like they’re not responsible when folks lose their shirts. They’re held to the same standards as a proper bank, and that’s good news for anyone investin’ in these…digital doodads. It appears they can’t just hop across the ocean and hide behind some complicated corporate structure. 😜

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2025-10-11 09:58