Was $1 Million Multichain Transfer to Binance an Inside Job?

Blockchain security firm Cyvers.ai has revealed how a crypto address used Multichain’s new bridge to deposit $1 million into Binance. The user’s adeptness at using Multichain’s bridge suggested a familiarity with the protocol’s inner workings.

According to Cyvers.ai, the entity sent roughly 1.2 million Fantom (FTM) tokens from Binance their crypto wallet. They then swapped 500,000 FTM for 28.4 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) and moved it to Ethereum using the Multichain bridge, before sending the wBTC, worth $1 million, to Binance.

Multichain User Sends $1 Million to Binance

The million-dollar swaps were part of a broader effort to use arbitrage and exploit price differences between assets on the Fantom blockchain and other networks. The price of wBTC on Fantom was $7,000, approximately 80% lower than on other markets, which allowed the user a favorable exchange rate with FTM on SpookySwap, a decentralized exchange on Fantom.

Read more: What Is Fantom (FTM)?

The user then transferred the funds to Ethereum using the Multichain bridge before sending them to Binance. The Multichain bridge opened briefly for about two hours of the last 24 to process transactions from the Fantom blockchain after being closed for 117 days.

Bridging assets to Ethereum with Multichain | Source: Multichain

Sending bridged assets to Binance | Source: Etherscan

Read more: What Is SpookySwap?

In addition to the million-dollar transaction, several other smaller transactions took place during the two-hour window. The CEO of Cyvers.ai told BeInCrypto the million-dollar bridge transaction was carried out by someone adept at using the Multichain bridge.

“It feels like it was someone who had some preliminary information. As he miraculously knew that the bridge would function.”

Ex-CEO of Multichain Unlikely Responsible

Multichain suspended bridge operations in July following $130 million of unauthorized transactions. Chinese law enforcement reportedly shut down the project’s servers and detained its CEO, known only as “Zhaojun He.”

The $1 million transaction was unlikely to have been carried out by Zhajoun, since according to the Multichain team, he controls the project’s multiparty servers and private keys, which were allegedly seized by the Chinese police. It is also unlikely to be Zhaojun’s sister, who was arrested after attempting to “recover” funds locked in the application.

The transaction is probably the latest in a series of withdrawals to private wallets since the arrests began in July. The Fantom Foundation reportedly hired attorneys in China to recover customer assets after Zhaojun was detained.

Do you have something to say about the million-dollar transfer to Binance that used the Multichain bridge, or anything else? Please write to us or join the discussion on our Telegram channel. You can also catch us on TikTok, Facebook, or X (Twitter).