Reading 2 minutes Views 6 Published Updated
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance suspended deposits for 10 intermediate tokens on May 25 after days of stalled transactions that caused uncertainty around the Multichain protocol.
Affected token pairs include Polkastarter (POLS), Alpaca Finance (ALPACA), Travala.com (AVA), Spell (SPELL), Fantom (FTM), Alchemy (ACH), Beefy (BIFI), SuperVerse (SUPER), Harvest Finance ( FARM) and DeXe (DEXE). The move affects bridge token users on the BNB Smart Chain, Fantom, Ethereum, and Avalanche blockchain networks.
We’ll be temporarily suspending deposits for the following bridged tokens-network while we await clarity from the Multichain team.
POLS-BSC
ACH-BSC
BIFI-FTM
SUPER BSC
AVA-ETH
SPELL-AVAXC
ALPACA-FTM
FTM-ETH
FARM-BSC
DEXE-BSCDeposits of the above assets on other networks are…
— Binance (@binance) May 25, 2023
According to the Binance deposits page, withdrawals of these tokens and deposits on other networks are still available.
The silence of Multichain (MULTI) on current issues is fueling uncertainty. According to Cointelegraph, the protocol’s transactions were delayed across multiple cross-chain bridges.
In a May 24 tweet, Multichain reported that some routes between networks were unavailable “due to force majeure”, noting that the time to restore service is unclear. This was the last message from the protocol on the social media platform. the delay was due to an internal host update.
Binance was not the only company to take action due to the unexplained downtime. A wallet address linked to the Fantom Foundation has reportedly removed 449,740 MULTI ($2.4 million) from liquidity on decentralized exchange SushiSwap. In addition, on May 24, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported $3 million worth of MULTI outflows related to smart money accounts.
following rumours of the @MultichainOrg team being allegedly arrested in Shanghai, some large holders of $MULTI have started moving funds.
Team wallets moving ~$3M of $MULTI to https://t.co/5ecSG3rKek have also spooked some investors, with $MULTI price falling 26.5% in 24h. pic.twitter.com/p2sQpu9Ass
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) May 24, 2023
There have been rumors on Twitter that the Multichain team has been arrested by the Chinese police and $1.5 billion worth of smart contract funds are under the control of the authorities. Cointelegraph reached out to Multichain but received no immediate response.
Binance Venture Capital is one of Multichain’s investors. In December 2021, the internet protocol raised $60 million in a seed funding round led by Binance Labs along with other venture capital investors such as Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Primitive Ventures, DeFiance Capital, Circle Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, HashKey and Magic Enterprises.
