Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Thursday that it would temporarily suspend deposits for ten tokens featured on four blockchain networks. The announcement comes amid an ongoing technical issue with the cross-chain router protocol Multichain.
Binance Suspends Deposits for Ten Tokens
The latest action by Binance affects tokens, including ACH, AVA, FTM, SPELL, and others. These tokens are bridged through the following blockchain networks: Binance Chain, Ethereum, Fantom, and Avalanche.
Binance noted that deposits of the cited tokens will still be possible through other networks. In the meantime, Binance awaits a response from the Multichain team to clarify matters.
What Happened to Multichain?
Multichain is a cross-chain protocol that enables users to bridge cryptocurrencies across several blockchains. The service is accessed by minting pegged tokens or acquiring native cryptocurrencies on other blockchains through liquidity pools.
Its official website reveals that the platform has been integrated with 92 blockchain networks and over 3,400 cryptocurrencies.
On May 21st, users began complaining about difficulty completing transactions as they were stuck. It was only two days later that Multichain gave a response to the troubled customers. The project told its users that the issue sprung from an ongoing upgrade and delayed updates to nodes for its cross-chain router operations.
“The upgrade of the back-end node is taking longer than expected. Most of the routes are working as usual, as some routes (Kava, zkSync, Polygon zkEVM) are suspended temporarily for now. All the affected transactions will arrive once the upgrade is complete,” the protocol stated.
Multichain admin stated via the official Telegram channel that the team is working on upgrading the final and seventh routers. The admin added that everything will be back to normal after completion.
Meanwhile, on-chain data showed that holders of Multichain’s native cryptocurrency, MULTI, sold off large volumes of the tokens. Over $3 million worth of the token has been removed from the protocol. This has impacted the token’s price, which has dropped by nearly 50% from $8 to $4.8.
It is rumoured that Multichain’s core team members have been arrested by Chinese authorities and that this has contributed to its woes. However, the company has yet to admit or deny these allegations.
