Multichain Daily Bridging Volume Sees 5x Increase After Alleged Team Arrest, Barely Any Panic for Fantom
Rumors have been spreading throughout the cryptoverse that the major blockchain bridge Multichain team has been arrested by the Chinese police - with the shockwaves hitting the Fantom (FTM) ecosystem softer than expected.
Per several Twitter accounts, the Chinese community has been reporting the core team members' arrests, as well as that law enforcement gained control of a wallet with some $1.5 billion - &1.7 billion in it.
"Alfred Xu, the co-founder of Multichain, said in the official Telegram community that the current team is healthy, the main business is normal, the route will be restored automatically, and the team is working normally," Gwei Research wrote.
The Multichain team did not provide further clarification. On May 24, they shared that "while most of the cross-chain routes of Multichain protocol are functioning well, some of the cross-chain routes are unavailable due to force majeure, and the time for service to resume is unknown."
Force majeure is a French term that means "greater force" or an "act of God" - an event outside one's control and accountability.
Multichain added that it would compensate affected users.
That said, it is currently not clear if the reports are accurate.
Meanwhile, researcher Defi Ignas noted a 520% spike in daily bridged volume, adding that deposits exceeded withdrawals by $18 million dollars following the rumors.
The fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) "resulted in a 5x increase in daily bridging volume," said the researcher.
Multichain is a major bridge (called Anyswap before the 2021 exploit) that enables interaction between several major blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and BNB Chain.
Per DeFiLlama, it currently has a $1.5 billion total value locked (TVL),
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