Multichain, a multichain platform that offers cryptocurrency transfer services between different blockchains, has suspended its operations after hackers stole over $125 million in cryptocurrency from the platform.
Founded in 2020, Multichain has claimed to be a leader in the safety, speed, and cost of translations between different blockchains. On July 7, the company reported on Twitter that a portion of the platform’s assets “was abnormally moved to an unknown address.”
“The team is currently uncertain about the exact cause of the incident, and an investigation is underway. We advise all users to cease the use of Multichain services and withdraw all permissions related to Multichain contracts,” the company stated.
A few hours later, Multichain announced that all platform services have been halted and confirmed that any transactions through bridges will be blocked on the original chains. Shortly after, a statement appeared on the Multichain website, in which the platform pledged to return the stolen funds to all users.
However, on the official Telegram channel of the platform, an administrator using the pseudonym “David Who” clarified that the website in question does not belong to Multichain. Therefore, the statement can only be seen as part of a malicious campaign against the platform.
As of now, there have been no further updates from Multichain. Blockchain security companies’ researchers have commented on the situation and estimated the approximate damage suffered by the platform.
According to Metasleuth, the stolen assets worth over $120 million were distributed to 6 addresses, with some of them being “burned.” PeckShield provided a screenshot indicating a total amount of $126 million stolen. The hackers targeted stable coins such as USD T and USDC, as well as ETH, Bitcoin, and more.
In addition, rumors have circulated that the cyber attack was carried out by a white hat hacker to test the platform’s security. However, the veracity of these claims is still unclear.
Prior to this incident, Multichain had already encountered various issues with its platform, even suspending its operations at the end of May this year. Nevertheless, the platform continued to function until the recent incident.