The online data analysis platform Arkham published a post on the social platform X yesterday, stating that millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies have been forgotten in the cross-chain contracts by dozens of DeFi whales and have not been claimed yet. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, and the exchange Coinbase were specifically mentioned:
Cryptocurrencies Forgotten by Whales
According to the data compiled by Arkham, the following users have not claimed their crypto assets in the cross-chain contracts:
1. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum
Arkham pointed out that an address that had interacted with Vitalik Buterin had transferred 50 ETH to the cross-chain contract, and the funds have been stuck for over 7 months. The amount to be claimed is worth 1.05 million dollars.
2. Coinbase
About half a year ago, Coinbase attempted to transfer $75,000 worth of USDC to Ethereum through the Optimism cross-chain bridge. However, the funds are still on the Ethereum base layer and have not been claimed.
3. Thomasg.eth, the founder of Arrow
The founder of Arrow, Thomasg.eth, seems to have forgotten $800,000 worth of Ethereum on Arbitrum and has not claimed it for two years.
4. Bofur Capital
A related wallet of Bofur Capital, a user with the same name as a Celsius creditor, has up to $1.8 million worth of WBTC on the Arbitrum cross-chain bridge, which has not been moved for 27 months. It is currently unclear whether it was intentional or forgotten.
5. mike macdonald
A user named mike macdonald also has $117,000 worth of cryptocurrencies in the cross-chain contract, which has been stuck for 5 months. According to Arkham, this user’s associated wallet has previously traded 5 cryptopunks, and these stuck funds are proceeds from the trades.
What is a Cross-Chain Bridge?
The function of a blockchain cross-chain bridge is to connect the ecosystems of two different blockchains, enabling the transfer of assets and data between blockchains. However, it is worth noting that unlike cross-chain protocols where users can automatically receive funds on another chain (like Acoss), the majority of native cross-chain bridges (such as the Optimism cross-chain contracts mentioned above) require users to manually claim their funds. If they forget to do so, the smart contract will not remind them, leading to potential loss of assets.
Further reading:
Tether Releases USDT “Cross-Chain Recovery Tool” to Solve Blockchain Crash Asset Frozen Issue
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