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Binance to Cease Support for Deposits and Withdrawals of Multichain-Linked Tokens
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In a June 5 update, Binance communicated to its users that it will be suspending the transfers for several Multichain-bridged tokens. The exchange earlier halted deposits for ten bridged tokens in late May, demanding clarity from the Multichain team after observers noted an anomaly with processing bridge transfers on Multichain.
Transactions on the protocol appeared to be delayed across multiple cross-chain bridges, as later confirmed by Multichain, which explained in a tweet that “some of the cross-chain routes [were] unavailable due to force majeure, and the time for service to resume [was] unknown.”
The cross-chain router protocol said in a later tweet on May 30 that “there was an issue with the scanning node network of Router5, which has affected the normal cross-chain service of some chains” Pathways of the cross-chain bridge, including Kava, zkSync, and Polygon zkEVM, became inoperational as part of the incident.
“The team has done everything possible to maintain the protocol running, but we are currently unable to contact CEO Zhaojun and obtain the necessary server access for maintenance,” Multichain wrote on Twitter. “Furthermore, this problem is beyond the team's current permissions and ability. In order to protect the interests of our users, we have decided to suspend the corresponding cross-chain service for the affected chain on the UI. Last week, the same issue happened on Router2.”
Binance's initial suspension inconvenienced users of bridged tokens on the Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Fantom networks, simultaneously affecting the Polkastarter (POLS), Spell (SPELL), Fantom (FTM), and Alchemy (ACH) token pairs among others. Markedly, the May 25 announcement didn’t affect withdrawals of these tokens.
The latest Wednesday update from Binance conveyed that the exchange will halt deposit and withdrawals support for the range of previously affected tokens linked to Multichain on July 7 starting at 00:00 UTC. Multichain (MULTI) price has dipped 6.63% on the day in reaction to the news.
MULTI July price chart
Binance didn’t provide a concrete timeline for resuming the services, noting that the suspension will last until further notice. Rumors have it that the Multichain CEO Zhaojun was arrested in China hence why the team has been unable to get in touch with him and resolve the ongoing technical issues.
To learn more about Multichain, check out our Investing in Multichain guide.
