$63 million in USDC frozen by Circle following Multichain breach

Crypto Ecosystems • July 7, 2023, 1:50PM EDT

UPDATED: July 7, 2023, 1:58PM EDT

Quick Take

Circle blacklisted three wallet addresses that received a significant outflow of funds from Multichain in its potential security breach.

USDC issuer Circle blacklisted three wallet addresses that received a significant outflow of funds from the cross-chain bridge platform Multichain in its potential security breach.

Security firm PeckShield noted that about $63 million in USDC, part of the assets involved in the alarming outflow, has been frozen.

The incident saw $126 million worth of crypto assets mysteriously transferred from Multichain’s bridge deployments on Fantom, Moonriver and Dogechain to various third-party wallets.

Following the incident, Multichain tweeted from its official account, “The Multichain service has currently stopped, and all bridge transactions will remain stuck on the source chains. There is no confirmed resumption time. Please refrain from using the Multichain bridging service for now.”

About Author

Vishal Chawla is The Block’s crypto ecosystems editor and has spent over six years covering tech protocols, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Vishal likes to delve deep into blockchain intricacies to ensure readers are well-informed about the continuously evolving crypto landscape. He is also a staunch advocate for rigorous security practices in the space. Before joining The Block, Vishal held positions at IDG ComputerWorld, CIO, and Crypto Briefing. He can be reached on Twitter at @vishal4c and via email at [email protected]