The Multichain cross-chain protocol, which stopped working in July, was restarted in early November, which allowed one of the users to earn $1 million on arbitration. This is reported by DL News.
The team explained the July shutdown by the arrest of the company's CEO Zhao Jun by the Chinese authorities, which led to the loss of access to the wallet. The project had problems back in May, and user funds subsequently began to be transferred to unknown addresses.
On November 1, the protocol briefly resumed processing transactions on the Fantom blockchain. At approximately 9: 40 UTC, an unknown person successfully transferred about $1 million worth of WBTC to the Ethereum network. This was the first Multichain operation in 117 days.
Next, the user made transfers in WETH and USDT tokens. After discovering that the bridge was working, dozens of other traders started using it with small amounts.
After about two hours of activity, Multichain stopped working again.
According to experts, the time of operations of the unknown raises questions about its work in tandem with those who restarted the protocol.
At 9: 23 UTC, this user received 1.2 million Fantom tokens (FTM) worth about $280,000 from Binance.
He then exchanged 500,000 FTM for "wrapped" bitcoin via DEX Spookyswap on the Fantom blockchain. After the Multichain restart, the assets were immediately transferred to Ethereum.
The unknown person used the same method for FTM swaps on WETH and USDT, but with the withdrawal in BNB Chain.
About 10 minutes after its last transaction, the bridge stopped working again.
As experts noted, the user effectively took advantage of the difference in asset prices. For example, WETH was trading on Fantom at around $7,000 before the Multichain relaunch — ~80% lower than the current spot price. WETH and USDT had similar positions. Starting operations with $280,000, he ended them with assets worth over $1 million, which he sent back to Binance.
Specialists of Cyvers Alerts noted that after the protocol stopped working, the queue of declared transactions was saved in it. Presumably, the arbitrageur's operations received priority, since the previous ones remained on the waiting list.
Commenters also drew attention to the lack of any notification about the restart of Multichain. The last message in the previously active project account on X was dated October 6.
Researchers from DL News pointed out that according to the statement of BlockSec CEO Yajin Zhou, the allegedly arrested head of Multichain is the only one who could resume the operation of the bridge.
According to DeFi Llama, the protocol still stores about $120 million in user deposits.
The team explained the July shutdown by the arrest of the company's CEO Zhao Jun by the Chinese authorities, which led to the loss of access to the wallet. The project had problems back in May, and user funds subsequently began to be transferred to unknown addresses.
On November 1, the protocol briefly resumed processing transactions on the Fantom blockchain. At approximately 9: 40 UTC, an unknown person successfully transferred about $1 million worth of WBTC to the Ethereum network. This was the first Multichain operation in 117 days.
Next, the user made transfers in WETH and USDT tokens. After discovering that the bridge was working, dozens of other traders started using it with small amounts.
After about two hours of activity, Multichain stopped working again.
According to experts, the time of operations of the unknown raises questions about its work in tandem with those who restarted the protocol.
At 9: 23 UTC, this user received 1.2 million Fantom tokens (FTM) worth about $280,000 from Binance.
He then exchanged 500,000 FTM for "wrapped" bitcoin via DEX Spookyswap on the Fantom blockchain. After the Multichain restart, the assets were immediately transferred to Ethereum.
The unknown person used the same method for FTM swaps on WETH and USDT, but with the withdrawal in BNB Chain.
About 10 minutes after its last transaction, the bridge stopped working again.
As experts noted, the user effectively took advantage of the difference in asset prices. For example, WETH was trading on Fantom at around $7,000 before the Multichain relaunch — ~80% lower than the current spot price. WETH and USDT had similar positions. Starting operations with $280,000, he ended them with assets worth over $1 million, which he sent back to Binance.
Specialists of Cyvers Alerts noted that after the protocol stopped working, the queue of declared transactions was saved in it. Presumably, the arbitrageur's operations received priority, since the previous ones remained on the waiting list.
Commenters also drew attention to the lack of any notification about the restart of Multichain. The last message in the previously active project account on X was dated October 6.
Researchers from DL News pointed out that according to the statement of BlockSec CEO Yajin Zhou, the allegedly arrested head of Multichain is the only one who could resume the operation of the bridge.
According to DeFi Llama, the protocol still stores about $120 million in user deposits.
