Multichain Bridge Disappearance — July 2023

Multichain (formerly Anyswap) operated cross-chain bridges connecting Ethereum, Fantom, BNB Chain, Polygon and approximately seventy other networks. At peak it had processed over $80B in cumulative volume.

In late May 2023, Chinese authorities reportedly detained founder and CEO Zhaojun He, his sister, and several other Multichain employees in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The team had no public communications channel from the detained members and operational control of the bridge's multi-signature wallets was reportedly compromised.

On 6 July 2023 approximately $130M of user assets — Fantom's wrapped tokens, anyTokens issued by Multichain, and other locked deposits — began to move out of the bridge contracts to addresses the team described as "owned by the project". The Fantom Foundation publicly disputed this characterisation, calling the outflows unauthorised. Operations terminated on 14 July 2023.

No public legal resolution has followed. Zhaojun He's status remains unaccounted for in public reporting. The Fantom ecosystem, which had significant TVL dependent on Multichain bridges, suffered prolonged loss of liquidity from which it has not fully recovered.