Circle, the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC), has frozen $63 million in three wallet addresses linked to the hack of the cross-chain bridge platform Multichain.
In a recent tweet, security firm PeckShield disclosed that Circle has frozen $27.65 million, $30.1 million, and $5.5 million in three wallet addresses that experienced a major outflow of cash from Multichain following the security compromise.
The intervention happened after $126 million in digital assets were inexplicably transferred from Multichain’s bridge deployments on Fantom, Moonriver, and Dogechain to various third-party wallets. Multichain verified the security breach, adding that they are conducting an investigation and expressing doubt regarding the cause.
They encouraged all users to discontinue use of Multichain services and to withdraw all contract approvals related to the platform.
“The lockup assets on the Multichain MPC address were abnormally moved to an unknown address.” The crew has no idea what transpired and is currently conducting an investigation.
The team also announced that all bridge transactions will remain suspended on their respective chains, without offering a timetable for service return.
Multichain, formerly known as Anyswap, allows users to move cryptocurrency assets between blockchain networks.
This is not the first time this year that Multichain has grabbed news. At the end of May, rumours circulated throughout the cryptoverse that the Multichain crew had been apprehended by Chinese authorities.
Furthermore, there are rumours that Chinese officials may have seized control of the network’s hardware and cold wallet, however these claims have never been substantiated. Following these debates, Binance announced that it will no longer facilitate deposits and withdrawals of numerous cross-chain bridge tokens linked with the Multichain project.
According to a research by crypto portfolio app De.Fi, hackers stole more than $204 million in digital assets during the second quarter of 2023 in different thefts and scams in the decentralised financial area. According to the research, the number of incidences in the DeFi globe surged nearly sevenfold compared to the same quarter previous year.
Despite a higher number of events, the total amount stolen during the quarter was much lower than the same quarter last year, when scammers and hackers stole a record $40 billion.
During the first six months of 2023, hackers stole more than $667 million. March was the worst month of the year, with $240 million lost and $178 million recovered. February came in second, with a loss of $156 million and a recovery of only $30,000.