- Stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether have frozen $65 million in assets tied to suspected exploit.
- Multiple ecosystems have been affected by unprecedented withdrawals.
- Multichain has suspended services amid uncertainty.
Circle and Tether, two prominent stablecoin issuers, have taken action by freezing more than $65 million in assets related to a suspected exploit of Multichain, a cross-chain router protocol. The decision to freeze these funds was made after significant unexplained outflows occurred from the Multichain MPC bridge on July 6.
0xScope, a knowledge graph protocol, has identified three addresses that received a substantial amount of $63.2 million in USD Coin from Multichain, and these addresses have now been frozen. Additionally, the Fantom Foundation has reported that two addresses labeled as “Multichain Suspicious Addresses” on Etherscan had over $2.5 million in Tether frozen.
The incident on July 6 involved the withdrawal of over $125 million worth of cryptocurrencies from multiple wallets, impacting various ecosystems including Multichain’s Fantom bridge, Dogechain, Moonriver, Kava, and Conflux. The exact cause of these abnormal asset transfers remains unclear at this time.
Multichain’s Temporary Halt Leaves Users and Funds in Limbo
Multichain took to Twitter to announce the temporary suspension of its services, refraining from specifying a return date. In a cautionary statement, they advised users against utilizing the Multichain bridging service, as all transactions would be stuck on the source chains.
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According to Fantom protocol CEO Michael Kong, the funds’ transfer does not appear to be a typical hack, as the assets sent to the alleged attacker’s wallets were not further moved. Ongoing investigations aim to shed light on this perplexing situation.
Multichain is a platform that enables users to transfer tokens across different networks. It has encountered technical and operational difficulties since its leadership mysteriously disappeared several weeks ago. Bridges like Multichain have become attractive targets for crypto hackers, resulting in multiple incidents throughout 2022.
On the Flipside
- Multichain’s suspension of services without a specified return date leaves users uncertain and raises doubts about the platform’s ability to handle such incidents effectively.
- The significant amount of funds frozen and withdrawn from various wallets underscores the potential risks and volatility associated with the cryptocurrency market.
Why This Matters
The freezing of assets tied to the suspected exploit of Multichain and the subsequent suspension of its services highlight the persistent vulnerability of cross-chain router protocols and the potential risks faced by the crypto industry.
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To learn more about the Multichain protocol’s recent halt following a $126 million hack, read here:
Multichain Protocol Halts After $126 Million Hack: What Users Need to Know
To delve into how Tether (USDT) is transforming the DeFi landscape through its integration with Cosmos, click here:
How Tether’s USDT Promises to Transform DeFi with Cosmos Integration
