CZ Says Binance Users’ Assets are Not Affected by Multichain Hack

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO and founder of leading crypto exchange Binance, announced that his company’s users, assets, and platform were unaffected by the recent hack on the cross-chain router protocol Multichain.

The Binance boss tweeted that the exchange had finalized all asset swaps and closed deposits a while before the incident occurred.

Binance Unaffected by Multichain Exploit

On July 6, Multichain experienced abnormal outflows from its bridge contracts to an unknown address, stirring rumors about a multimillion-dollar exploit. While the transfer’s reason is unknown, the Multichain team has asked users to revoke all approvals related to its contracts.

On-chain data shared in a tweet by blockchain security firm PeckShield showed several transactions on the Multichain Fantom bridge. Approximately $58 million in USD Coin (USDC), $13.6 million in wrapped Ether (WETH), and $31 million in wrapped bitcoins (WBTC) were moved from the Fantom bridge’s Ethereum contract.

In addition, about $5.9 million and $666,000 were withdrawn from the Multichain Moonriver and Dogechain bridge contracts on Ethereum, leaving only $100,000 and $700,000 worth of assets on each respective bridge.

Altogether, more than $109 million were moved from Multichain’s MPC address containing the platform’s lockup assets. To mitigate the losses, Multichain also asked all users to stop using its services as an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

“The lockup assets on the Multichain MPC address have been moved to an unknown address abnormally. The team is not sure what happened and is currently investigating. It is recommended that all users suspend the use of Multichain services and revoke all contract approvals related to Multichain,” the team said.

Binance Ceases Support for Multichain Tokens

While CZ has offered assistance in helping with the situation, Binance continues with its decision to end deposit and withdrawal support for several Multichain-bridged tokens.

The company disclosed its decision to cease support for the Multichain-bridged tokens on July 5, following complaints about delayed transactions on the protocol. The exchange initially suspended deposits for the affected tokens in May due to uncertainty surrounding the Multichain protocol.

Rumors have spread about the protocol’s management team being arrested in Shanghai after the CEO went missing. While speculations are unconfirmed, Multichain developers disclosed that the CEO’s disappearance left them without access to the platform’s servers, hence, the transaction delays.