By Tom Blitzer
Key Insights:
- Circle and Tether freeze $65 million amid suspected Multichain exploit.
- Abnormal crypto transfers fuel concerns about rising crypto hacking incidents.
- Robust security measures are urgently needed to combat crypto world vulnerabilities.
Crypto platforms Circle and Tether have recently frozen assets over $65 million. This move follows a suspected exploit of the cross-chain router protocol, Multichain. Significantly, the action involved suspending at least three addresses, which according to 0xScope, a knowledge graph protocol, received $63.2 million worth of USD Coin (USDC) from Multichain.
Moreover, the Fantom Foundation reported that they froze more than $2.5 million in Tether (USDT) from two addresses. As per reports, these addresses with suspicious activities had featured on Etherscan as “Multichain Suspicious Addresses.”
Consequently, on July 6, over $125 million worth of cryptocurrencies drained out of multiple wallets. This incident shook the ecosystems of Multichain’s Fantom Bridge, Dogechain, Moonriver, Kava, and Conflux.
Abnormal Transfers and Crypto Hacks: A Rising Trend?
Intriguingly, the exact cause behind this massive and unusual asset transfer remains a mystery. Multichain, known for its token transfer services across different networks, suspended its services via Twitter. However, the platform should have disclosed when the services would be reinstated.
Besides this announcement, the company warned users not to use the Multichain bridging service. It cautioned that any bridge transactions would get stuck on the source chains. Further, the CEO of the Fantom protocol, Michael Kong, suggested that the fund transfer did not fit the usual hacking pattern. He pointed out that the assets in question have not moved from the alleged attacker’s wallets.
Significantly, Multichain has faced technical and operational issues following the unexplained disappearance of its leadership a few weeks ago. Despite being a critical tool for enabling token transfers between different networks, bridge protocols like Multichain are often easy prey for crypto hackers.
Blockchain security specialist SlowMist recently reported that cybercriminals have purloined over $30 billion in cryptocurrency assets since 2012. The tactics employed include exploiting smart contract weaknesses, orchestrating rug pulls and flash loan attacks, running scams, and stealing private keys.
Out of the reported incidents, 118 involved exchange hacks, 217 were in the Ethereum ecosystem, 162 were in the BNB Smart Chain ecosystem, 119 were in the EOS ecosystem, and 85 concerned non-fungible tokens.Â
In the past decade, exchange hacks have drained over $10 billion from the crypto community. This latest exploit starkly illuminates the persistent vulnerabilities within cryptocurrency networks. It underscores the urgent need for robust security measures and vigilant oversight.