Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has temporarily halted deposits for ten bridged tokens as of May 25, in response to a series of transaction issues that have raised questions about the Multichain (MULTI) protocol. The tokens affected include polkastarter (POLS), alpacatoken (ALPACA), travala.com (AVA), spell (SPELL), fantom (FTM), alchemy (ACH), beefy (BIFI), superverse (SUPER), harvest finance (FARM), and dexe (DEXE).
The suspension, announced via a tweet on May 25, affects the following pairings: POLS-BSC, ACH-BSC, BIFI-FTM, SUPER-BSC, AVA-ETH, SPELL-AVAXC, ALPACA-FTM, FTM-ETH, FARM-BSC, DEXE-BSC on the BNB Smart Chain, Fantom, Ethereum, and Avalanche blockchain networks. While deposits for these specific tokens are temporarily on hold, withdrawals of these tokens and deposits on other supported networks remain available for users.
Despite Binance attributing the suspension to Multichain, the company has been relatively quiet. The last tweet from Multichain was posted on May 24. Rumors have also circulated on Twitter about the Multichain team being arrested in Shanghai, leading to the initiation of fund transfers. According to @ArkhamIntel on Twitter, team wallets associated with the project have reportedly transferred approximately $3 million worth of $MULTI to the cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io. These developments have further fueled investor apprehension, resulting in a significant 26.5% drop in the price of $MULTI within a 24-hour period.
This incident underscores the susceptibility of the cryptocurrency market to technical issues, regulatory uncertainties, and unverified information. It highlights the importance of transparency, communication, and prompt resolution of issues for the continued development and adoption of cryptocurrencies.
