Why is Shiba Inu (SHIB) Dumping Hard? WazirX Hacker Begins Selling 5.4 Trillion SHIB Loot

Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) price has dropped by over 10% in the past 24 hours. The steep decline is directly connected to a recent security breach involving the India-based cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX.

As CoinTab reported earlier today, a hacker infiltrated WazirX’s systems and gained authorized access to the exchange’s multi-signature wallet. The hacker stole $230 million worth of assets, most of which were 5.46 trillion Shiba Inu tokens (valued at roughly $102 million).

Other major assets stolen by the hacker include 15,298 ETH ($52.5 million), 20.5 million MATIC ($11.24 million), and 640 billion PEPE tokens ($7.5 million). At the time of writing, only around $154 million is still being held at the address.

Thus, the hacker has already sold some stolen assets, including PEPE and LINK. In the hours leading up to press time, they began selling Shiba Inu (SHIB), accounting for the recent market decline. Out of the 5.46 trillion SHIB ($102 million) originally stolen by the hacker, they have sold 800 billion SHIB tokens (approximately $21 million).

Evidently, the 10% drop in the price of Shiba Inu represents investors’ fear that a continued dumping of SHIB could send the asset’s value even lower. The loss of major support levels en route to the decline could also mean that the road to recovery may not be as smooth as the fear-induced drop.

Will Shiba Inu Bounce Back?

Notably, the latest drop in the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) is not directly related to a security breach involving the project or its ecosystem. Therefore, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency could see some relief as soon as the selling pressure from the hacker subsides in the coming days or weeks.

Additionally, the crypto market has been moderately bullish since the start of the week, a factor that could help Shiba Inu’s recovery. In the meantime, SHIB appears to have found support around the $0.00001700 range, with the ongoing sell not pushing the memecoin below that price level. SHIB is trading at $0.00001734 at press time.

Shiba Inu holders must remain wary of the movement of the hacker’s funds. At the same time, the selling pressure may reduce if and when WazirX reports success in its efforts to hunt down the attacker and recover user funds.