Unclaimed Crypto Assets Stranded in DeFi Bridge Contracts, Including Wallet Linked to Ethereum Co-founder
Summary:
Multiple high-profile cryptocurrency wallets, containing assets worth up to seven figures, have their funds trapped in decentralized finance (DeFi) bridge contracts, according to crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. Some of the wallets, including one linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have had funds unclaimed for over two years. The report emphasized the necessity of manual retrieval of funds in certain DeFi bridges, leading to situations where users inadvertently overlook their assets. Notable locked wallets include those linked to "thomasg.eth,” Bofur Capital, nonfungible token user Mike Macdonald, and the Coinbase crypto exchange.
Multiple digital wallets linked to high-profile crypto personalities, each containing assets worth up to seven figures, are caught in various decentralized finance (DeFi) bridge contracts. One such wallet belongs to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and has had assets worth more than $1 million frozen for over seven months. Other wallets have funds unclaimed for more than two years. A study by crypto analytics agency Arkham Intelligence revealed that several crypto entities and individuals have had their assets frozen in bridge contracts for a significant period, up to two years.
These bridge contracts in the DeFi space are softwares that enable the transfer of assets and data between differing blockchain networks, thus fostering interchain operability. However, the functionality of each DeFi bridge varies, with some being cross-chain bridges that allow users to effortlessly access their assets on the other chain. Contrastingly, native bridges require users to manually retrieve their funds as these smart contracts lack the capability to remind users to do so. This results in instances of users inadvertently leaving their money behind.
One wallet associated with “thomasg.eth” has had $800,000 in assets stuck in Arbitrum Bridge for almost two years. Another wallet, linked to Bofur Capital, containing 27 wrapped Bitcoins roughly equating to $1.8 million, has been frozen for over two years and three months. In another instance, a wallet associated with nonfungible token (NFT) user Mike Macdonald has approximately $117,000 in funds tied to CryptoPunks sales caught up on a bridge contract. Arkham advised the account holder to verify if they also own the account into which the sales proceeds were deposited.
Another wallet that received 50 Ether from "Vitalik.eth" appears to have been neglected for seven months, despite holding nearly $1 million worth of Ether on the Optimism bridge. Another wallet associated with the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange has been engaged for six months and contains stuck assets worth $75,000. Arkham believes that Coinbase attempted to bridge $75,000 worth of USD Coin to Ether and subsequently forgot about it. These assets remain unclaimed on the Optimism bridge contract.
Arkham alerted all related entities to claim their trapped funds and reiterated that such occurrences are not unusual given the nature of cross-chain bridges.
Published At
4/24/2024 9:05:54 AM
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