The cross-chain protocol Multichain, which stopped working in July, restarted in early November, which gave one of the users the opportunity to earn $1 million from arbitrage. 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. Problems with the project arose 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 WBTC worth about $1 million to the Ethereum network. This was the first transaction through Multichain in 117 days.
Next, the user made transfers in WETH and USDT tokens. After discovering that the bridge worked, dozens of other traders began using it with small amounts.
After about two hours of activity, Multichain stopped working again.
According to experts, the timing of the unknown’s operations raises questions regarding his work in tandem with those who restarted the protocol.
At 9:23 UTC, this user received 1.2 million Fantom (FTM) tokens worth approximately $280,000 from Binance.
He then exchanged 500,000 FTM for wrapped Bitcoin via the Spookyswap DEX on the Fantom blockchain. After the Multichain restart, assets were immediately transferred to Ethereum.
An unknown person used the same method for FTM swaps on WETH and USDT, but with withdrawal to BNB Chain.
About 10 minutes after his last transaction, the bridge stopped working again.
As experts noted, the user effectively took advantage of the difference in asset prices. For example, WETH, before the relaunch of Multichain, was trading on Fantom at a price of about $7,000 – ~80% lower than current spot quotes. WETH and USDT had similar positions. He started operations with $280,000 and ended them with assets worth over $1 million, which he sent back to Binance.
Cyvers Alerts specialists noted that after the protocol ceased operation, it retained a queue of reported transactions. Presumably, the arbitrageur’s operations received priority because the previous remained on the waiting list.
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Just to clarify, we didn’t claim that the stuck transactions have been processed, but rather we were referring to transactions from the last day!
— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) November 2, 2023
Commentators also drew attention to the absence of any notification about the restart of Multichain. Last message in a previously active project account on X dated October 6.
Researchers from DL News pointed out that, according to 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 Callthe protocol still holds approximately $120 million in user deposits.
Data: DeFi Llama.
Let us remind you that in October, damage to the crypto industry from hacks and fraud decreased to $51.61 million – this is 85% less than the month before, according to Beosin.
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2023-11-03 13:10:22
#unknown #person #earned #million #unexpected #restart #Multichain #ForkLog
