Cryptocurrency analysis firm Arkham Intelligence has discovered that millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies are reportedly sitting unclaimed on various bridges.
it has identified The bridge agreement left several accounts holding large amounts of cryptocurrency unclaimed. Those involved include DeFi and NFT players as well as certain companies, including those with ties to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
According to Arkham, several notable cases have involved large sums of cryptocurrency forgotten on bridges, applications that facilitate the transfer of assets between different blockchains.
“There are dozens of accounts with six- to seven-digit numbers stuck in bridge contracts and forgotten about,” the company said. “People on this list may have misplaced millions of dollars.”
Among the reported incidents, a wallet with the ENS name thomasg.eth left around $800,000 in Arbitrum's Native Bridge, an amount that remained there for almost two years.
Another Ethereum address connected to an entity named Bofur Capital has approx. 27 laps Bitcoin ($1.8 million) According to the company, the bridge has not been moved from Arbitram Bridge for more than two years. More than $14 million worth of assets are stored at this address, according to Arkham data.
Similarly, accounts associated with NFT users identified At X, as Mike MacDonald apparently forgot to claim about $117,000 in assets related to Cryptopunk sales in his bridge contract. This scenario suggests that large crypto holders may face similar challenges in tracking their assets as they move them between chains.
In one particularly notable case, an account that received 50 ETH from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin left these funds on Optimism Bridge for approximately seven months. The total amount unclaimed is approximately $1.05 million. “Vitalik, if you own this address, PSA: You have $1 million ETH in Optimism Bridge,” Arkham said. I have writtenaddressed to Buterin.
Unlike cross-chain bridge protocols like Across or Hop, where users automatically receive funds on other chains, with Native Bridge there may be scenarios where users need to manually claim funds. Also, if a user forgets to do so, smart contracts have no means of reminding the user, creating a scenario where such a user may forget the funds.
Mr. Arkham cautioned individuals and entities involved to double-check their transaction history and conduct intermediary activities to ensure all assets are accounted for.
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