Circle, the official issuer of USDC, the second largest stablecoin by circulating supply, has frozen $63 million from the Multichain hack. The Etherscan data was compiled on July 7 SHOWS that the stablecoin issuer froze $27.65 million, $30.1 million, and $5.5 million in three transactions, which hampered the hacker’s cash out efforts.
Multichain Hacked, Circle Intervenes
Multichain, a cross-chain protocol router, was hacked on July 7, resulting in the loss of over $126 million worth of various tokens. The exploit occurred after the attacker illegally accessed the Multi-Party Computation (MPC) address of Multichain, which stores funds locked between blockchains.
Afterwards, the hacker withdraws the funds from the address and transfers them to an externally controlled wallet. Fantom Bridge was affected by this outflow because the hacker withdrew various tokens, including wBTC, USDC, and USDT. There are a few other altcoins that have been stolen by the hacker.
Funds were also removed from the Moonriver Bridge, with observers noting that at least $6.8 million worth of various coins, including USDC, were transferred to an external address. It was also reported that a Multichain-related address connecting to Dogecoin also lost $600,000.
The stolen USDC is now frozen and cannot be transferred, a relief for the community. However, it is unclear whether Circle will return the funds to Multichain. In the past, Tether Holdings and Circle, the centralized issuers of the world’s most liquid stablecoins, have intervened to prevent bad actors from cashing out.
Hack Compounding Multichain’s Alas, Bitcoin Firm
Peckshield, a blockchain security firm, is the first CHOOSE the unusual transfer of over $118 million worth of assets from the Fantom and Moonriver bridges to Multichain. The company went on to tag the team behind the cross-chain protocol, who acted quickly.
In response to the hack, Multichain SAYS the outflow is “abnormal” and stops all activity while recommending users to stop their protocol and withdraw all approval of contracts.
Although the Multichain team assured the community that the private keys that control asset movements through the bridge are secure and stored on the chain, their technology appears to have flaws, resulting in hacking. The hack marked another upheaval in recent weeks. Aside from delayed transactions and what the team described as “numerous issues,” the founder is gone.
Despite the attack, Bitcoin prices are stable as of writing. The coin is above the $30,000 psychological support, rejecting the bear pressure from July 6. However, FTM, Fantom’s native currency, is in free fall, shedding 20% ​​from the July high.
Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView
