An analysis conducted by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham has revealed that several crypto addresses are holding millions of dollars in large bridge contracts, either forgotten or unable to be accessed. Arkham identified numerous accounts with significant amounts of funds trapped in bridge contracts, including those belonging to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto exchange Coinbase, and various DeFi whales. To support their findings, Arkham provided two screenshots displaying fund transfers to and from the Arbitrum and Optimism bridges. One wallet linked to Buterin has had $1.05 million stuck in the Optimism bridge for seven months. However, this represents only a small portion of Buterin’s $789 million cryptocurrency portfolio. Another wallet associated with Bofur Capital, which shares the same name as a Celsius creditor, has $1.8 million worth of wrapped-Bitcoin (WBTC) trapped in the Arbitrum bridge for the past 27 months. Additionally, Thomasg.eth, the pseudonymous founder of decentralized air transportation solution Arrow, has $800,000 in Ether stuck in the Arbitrum bridge. In another instance, Coinbase attempted to bridge $75,000 in USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum via the Optimism bridge six months ago, but the funds have yet to be claimed on Ethereum’s base layer. While it is possible that the wallet owners still maintain control over the funds and have intentionally chosen to leave them there temporarily, bridge contracts have become attractive targets for hackers due to potential vulnerabilities in smart contracts or centralized validator sets. These bridges are crucial components of modular blockchain networks like Ethereum, allowing for the offloading of transaction responsibilities to layer 2s while prioritizing data availability and security on the base layer. In March 2022, the Ronin bridge hack, orchestrated by North Korea’s state-backed Lazarus Group, exposed vulnerabilities in bridge contracts when the group gained access to five of the nine private keys held by transaction validators. As a result, a team of white hat hackers called ‘SEAL 911’ was formed to combat crypto hacks in real-time.
Arkham uncovers DeFi whales with millions stranded in forgotten bridge contracts