Unusual Outflows from Multichain Raises Alarms
Multichain, the MPC bridge platform, has seen extraordinarily large outflows, leading to fears of a potential multi-million dollar exploit targeting the platform. The alarming movement, which saw over $130 million worth of crypto being transferred out from the platform, has sparked concerns among observers and investors.
These outflows were first noticed on July 6, when it was observed that $102 million worth of crypto was withdrawn from the Multichain Fantom bridge on the Ethereum side. In addition, $666,000 worth of Dogecoin and $5 million from Moonriver were withdrawn. Further, the Fantom bridge’s Ethereum smart contract saw the withdrawal of 7214 Wrapped Ether (WETH) tokens worth $13.6 million, 1024 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth $31 million, and $58 million worth of the USDC stablecoin. The total value of the crypto removed by the end of the day amounted to over $100 million.
Additional Withdrawals Raising Concern
In addition to the massive withdrawals from the Multichain Fantom bridge, the Dogecoin bridge’s Ethereum contract experienced a withdrawal of around $666,000, which accounts for more than 86% of its total deposits. As a result, only around $100,000 worth of assets remains in the bridge. Similarly, the Multichain Moonriver contracts on Ethereum saw withdrawals of over $5.8 million worth of USDT and USDC. Currently, the Moonriver bridge contracts only have about $700,000 left.
Potential Exploit and Multichain’s Response
Various on-chain investigators took to Twitter, warning the community of a potential exploit. Blockchain security firm PeckShield tagged Multichain in a post, highlighting the Phantom chain transactions and urging the team to review. While Multichain did not respond initially, Fantom Foundation CEO Michael Kong assured the community that the Fantom team was looking into the issue.
Multichain eventually responded, confirming the abnormal movement of funds and stating that the team was “unsure of what was happening and is currently investigating the issue.”
Multichain’s Escalating Issues
Multichain operates as a multi-party computation (MPC) bridging network, allowing users to bridge assets between chains. However, Multichain has been drawing negative attention following technical issues in recent weeks. In May, the team announced that the CEO had gone missing, resulting in significant transaction delays due to unforeseen circumstances. Adding to the concern, Binance also announced a halt in the withdrawal of some Multichain derivative tokens due to network issues.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
