Arkham Intelligence Reveals Millions in Unclaimed Crypto Assets Stuck in Bridge Contracts

Arkham Intelligence, a crypto analytics company, recently revealed a surprising trend in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi): millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies are unclaimed in various bridge contracts. These funds, which belong to both well-known crypto personalities and lesser-known entities, have been stuck for periods ranging from several months to two years.

TLDR

Arkham Intelligence has confirmed that millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies are unclaimed in various bridge contracts. A number of well-known whale addresses linked to prominent crypto individuals and entities have funds locked up in these bridge contracts for up to two years. A wallet linked to Vitalik Buterin with assets worth more than $1 million was stuck in Optimum Bridge for more than seven months. Other affected entities include Bofur Capital, NFT user Mike Macdonald, and a wallet linked to Coinbase. Unlike cross-chain bridges, native bridges require users to withdraw funds manually, leading to situations where users forget their assets.

Diffie bridge contracts are essential elements of an ecosystem that facilitate the movement and interoperability of assets and data between different blockchain networks.

However, not all bridges work the same way. Cross-chain bridges transfer users' assets directly to the target chain, while native bridges require manual withdrawals. This difference in practice has led to the situation where users have forgotten their properties, they are stuck in these contracts.

GM

There are dozens of forgotten 6-7 figure accounts stuck in bridge contracts.

These include popular DeFi whales and an account linked to @vitalikbuterin.

If you're on this list, you may have just lost a few million dollars.

Don't worry – it happens. pic.twitter.com/YaLb5pjtzF

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) April 22, 2024

Among Arkham's most famous cases is a wallet linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This wallet, which received 50 Ether (ETH) from Buterin himself, has more than $1 million worth of assets held in Optimum Bridge for more than seven months.

Although this amount represents only a small fraction of Buterin's estimated $789 million cryptocurrency portfolio, it shows the size of the case at hand.

Other prominent entities affected by this incident include Bofur Capital, affiliated with Celsius Lender, which wrapped $1.8 million in Bitcoin (WBTC) stuck in an arbitrage bridge for 27 months.

An NFT user named Mike MacDonald apparently forgot to claim about $117,000 in assets on a bridge contract related to the sale of CryptoPunks.

Connected to @vitalikbuterin (receives 50 ETH from vitalik.eth)

Amount locked in: $1.05 million Time locked in: ~7 months Address:

Vitalik, if you own this address, PSA: you have one million dollars of ETH in Optimum Bridge. pic.twitter.com/AWMUbCKGJ5

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) April 22, 2024

The list of affected wallets extends beyond these high-profile cases. Arkham identified dozens of six- to seven-figure bills stuck in bridge contracts and forgotten by their owners.

One such example is a wallet called thomasg.eth, which has deposited nearly $800,000 in Arbitrum Bridge over two years.

Even the main cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase seems to have fallen victim to this trend. Arkham reports that Coinbase tried to link $75,000 USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum via the Optimism bridge six months ago, but the money remains unclaimed on the Ethereum base layer.

While some wallet owners may have intentionally parked their money in these bridge contracts, the size and duration of unclaimed assets suggests that many users simply forgot.

Arkham urges all individuals and entities to revisit their transaction history and bridging activities to ensure all assets are accounted for.

The organization has taken steps to notify the owners of the identified wallets, recalling millions of dollars that may have been misplaced.