# Multichain (MULTI): $125M Bridge Crisis and Collapse
Launched as Anyswap in July 2020,Multichain became a major cross-chain bridge, supporting transfers across Ethereum,BNB Chain, Avalanche and Polygon. It adopted the Multichain name in Dec. 2021 and used multi-party computation (MPC) for security
# Growth
A $60M round led by Binance Labs in Dec. 2021 valued the project at ~$1.2B. TVL peaked near $10.45B in Jan. 2022. MULTI replaced ANY at 1:1;its 100M supply supported governance and planned fee distributions to veMULTI holders
# The 2023 Crisis
Contact with CEO Zhaojun was lost in May 2023. Critical servers were tied to his personal cloud account. Chinese police later detained him and seized his devices and recovery data,leaving the team unable to regain control
On July 6–7,over $125M in assets left bridge addresses,including WBTC,WETH,USDC and DAI. Fantom later put total cross-chain losses above $210M. Circle froze ~$63M USDC and Tether ~$2.5M USDT,but this did not cover all losses
The team said Zhaojun’s sister moved about $220M in remaining user assets to other wallets; she was also detained. Without access or funding,Multichain halted operations
# Legal Fallout and MULTI’s Collapse
Fantom Foundation sued in Singapore and obtained a default judgment in Jan. 2024. The ruling did not settle every question of responsibility or the assets ’final fate.
MULTI peaked at $33.64 in Jan. 2022. By Oct. 31, 2026,reported prices were ~$0.02–0.03,down about 99.9%. Supply,volume and market-cap data remain inconsistent;thin liquidity makes prices unreliable
# Lessons
MPC and smart-contract security are insufficient if servers,keys,recovery data and operations depend on one person. Bridges also concentrate assets and attract attacks. Governance, key management,audits,transparency and crisis readiness matter as much as TVL,network coverage and funding. Multichain exposed the gap between decentralization claims and actual control $BTC $MULTI
Launched as Anyswap in July 2020,Multichain became a major cross-chain bridge, supporting transfers across Ethereum,BNB Chain, Avalanche and Polygon. It adopted the Multichain name in Dec. 2021 and used multi-party computation (MPC) for security
# Growth
A $60M round led by Binance Labs in Dec. 2021 valued the project at ~$1.2B. TVL peaked near $10.45B in Jan. 2022. MULTI replaced ANY at 1:1;its 100M supply supported governance and planned fee distributions to veMULTI holders
# The 2023 Crisis
Contact with CEO Zhaojun was lost in May 2023. Critical servers were tied to his personal cloud account. Chinese police later detained him and seized his devices and recovery data,leaving the team unable to regain control
On July 6–7,over $125M in assets left bridge addresses,including WBTC,WETH,USDC and DAI. Fantom later put total cross-chain losses above $210M. Circle froze ~$63M USDC and Tether ~$2.5M USDT,but this did not cover all losses
The team said Zhaojun’s sister moved about $220M in remaining user assets to other wallets; she was also detained. Without access or funding,Multichain halted operations
# Legal Fallout and MULTI’s Collapse
Fantom Foundation sued in Singapore and obtained a default judgment in Jan. 2024. The ruling did not settle every question of responsibility or the assets ’final fate.
MULTI peaked at $33.64 in Jan. 2022. By Oct. 31, 2026,reported prices were ~$0.02–0.03,down about 99.9%. Supply,volume and market-cap data remain inconsistent;thin liquidity makes prices unreliable
# Lessons
MPC and smart-contract security are insufficient if servers,keys,recovery data and operations depend on one person. Bridges also concentrate assets and attract attacks. Governance, key management,audits,transparency and crisis readiness matter as much as TVL,network coverage and funding. Multichain exposed the gap between decentralization claims and actual control $BTC $MULTI
