The Madras High Court has recognized cryptocurrency as property that can be held in trust, granting relief to a WazirX user whose XRP funds were frozen following the exchange’s 2024 hack.
The ruling could set a precedent for how Indian courts handle user claims against exchanges operating under foreign jurisdictions.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh’s October 25 order ordered Zanmai Labs, the Indian operator of WazirX, to provide a bank guarantee worth approximately 9.56 lakh (approximately $11,500), the equivalent of the petitioner’s 3,532 frozen XRP, pending arbitration.
“She held the cryptocurrency in India through the WazirX platform,” the court said. “Cryptocurrency is property… that can be enjoyed and owned, and can be held in trust.”
The decision came after Rhutikumari, a longtime WazirX user, challenged the exchange’s right to redistribute her XRP holdings as part of a “socialized loss program” linked to the restructuring of its Singapore-based parent company, Zettai Pte Ltd.
WazirX, once India’s largest crypto exchange, halted withdrawals in July 2024 after a $230 million hack targeting wallets run by Singapore custodian Liminal. The company then carried out a court-supervised restructuring in Singapore, under which users would receive “recovery tokens” and partial refunds once operations resumed.
This plan – approved by the Singapore High Court earlier this month – has since become the cornerstone of WazirX’s revival. But the Madras ruling indicates that Indian users can still seek domestic legal protection even when the company’s headquarters is abroad.
For thousands of Indian users still waiting for their tokens from the 2024 WazirX hack, Madras’ move marks the first tangible victory.
This does not yet force WazirX to return the funds, but it recognizes a principle that could define future cases: that crypto belongs to the user, not the exchange.
