- According to reports, Vitalik Buterin has $1 million stuck in the Optimism bridge.
- Crypto whales have large quantities of money stuck in bridges, according to Arkham.
Bridge risks are highlighted by significant recent security breaches.
According to reports, more than $1 million is stuck in the Optimism bridge in a cryptocurrency wallet connected to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
This information was found after a more thorough investigation by blockchain intelligence company Arkham, which also found that a large number of cryptocurrency addresses have significant sums of money placed in bridge contracts across many networks.
Cross-Chain Difficulties: Ethereum Wallets Struggle With Asset Locks
$1.05 million has been inactive for the last seven months in a wallet address that received 50 Ethereum (ETH) from Buterin’s unique Ethereum Name Service (ENS) address vitalik.eth. These assets, if they are indeed associated with Buterin, only make up a small portion of his enormous $781 million cryptocurrency holdings.
Several crypto addresses have significant amounts similarly locked in bridge contracts, according to Arkham’s analysis. Among these are addresses connected to well-known companies like Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, and other DeFi whales.
For instance, $1.8 million in wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) that has been trapped in the Arbitrum bridge for 27 months is connected to a wallet owned by Bofur Capital.
According to Arkham, Bofur Capital’s 27 Bitcoin have been sitting in the Arbitrum bridge for more than two years and are currently valued at than $2 million.
Moreover, the anonymous creator of Arrow, a decentralized air transportation system, Thomasg.eth, has $800,000 in ETH stashed away in the same bridge.
Furthermore, Coinbase tried using the Optimism bridge six months ago to transfer $75,000 in USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum. On Ethereum’s basic layer, these monies have not been recovered even though the transfer was successful. This circumstance suggests that either the recovery process was disregarded or there was a purposeful hold-up in claiming the transferred assets.
Blockchain networks like as Ethereum require cross-chain bridges such as Optimism. In an effort to address interoperability problems with blockchain topologies, bridges allow assets to be moved across different blockchains without the need for a centralized authority.
The intricate and hazardous nature of handling money across decentralized systems is demonstrated by the circumstances surrounding Buterin and other individuals. It is possible that the owners of these wallets purposefully left their valuables inside of these bridges. However, it is not negotiable that these monies could become stranded because of technical difficulties.
There are also serious security hazards associated with these bridges. They are now the center of attention for cyberattacks, which have cost billions of dollars in losses in recent years.
The $100 million theft from the Harmony Horizon Bridge and the $650 million hack of the Ronin bridge by North Korea’s Lazarus Group are two notable security incidents that demonstrate how vulnerable these vital network intersections are.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
