Big blockchain security company Chainalysis finds that the recent Multichain hack has suspiciously many characteristics of a so-called ‘back pull’. The hack that happened last week resulted in a loss of over $126 million worth of crypto. It became one of the largest crypto thefts ever to take place. However, Chainalysis questions the situation.
Chainalysis finds biggest crypto hack in ages ‘suspicious’
Multichain, a protocol that connects blockchains and thus enables conversions between coins, was hacked last week. Huge amounts of USD Coin (USDC), USD Tether (USDT), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) and wrapped ethereum (WETH) were captured in the hack.
The huge loot was divided among about six addresses. The hack came shortly after the announcement that Fantom would partner with Multichain. When the protocol was put into effect on Fantom, a huge amount of money was soon stolen.
On July 6, @MultichainOrg experienced unusually large, unauthorized withdrawals, resulting in losses of more than $125M. It’s one of the biggest #crypto hacks on record.
Read on to learn what we know so far: https://t.co/ib2K6sIrID pic.twitter.com/BBY3iU75oB
— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) July 10, 2023
However, Chainalysis finds the situation suspicious. The transactions were unexpected and unauthorized; characteristic of a hack. However, were the keys used for the hack, owned by an administrator. So it could be that the massive theft wasn’t a hack, but one inside job.
Crypto hack has features of back pull
earlier was already known that the CEO of Multichain was unreachable and untraceable. In addition, there were some difficulties within the company, such as delayed transactions and other technical problems.
Chainalysis therefore describes the incident as a back pull, or exit scam. There is a back pull when a project suddenly pulls the plug and disappears with the money. This leaves the investors out in the cold while the team is swimming in cash. Because the protocol has had problems for some time, the team may have decided to perform a back pull, and tried to hide it in the form of a ‘hack’.
Multichain itself is still at a standstill and there seems to be no more activity on it Multichain Twitter account. The last update came four days ago, when the hack happened. It is not known when activities will resume, but there is a chance that the system will never come online again.