Arkham reveals DeFi whales with enormous sums trapped in overlooked bridge contracts

According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, several crypto addresses have significant amounts of money stuck or forgotten in large bridge contracts. Arkham revealed that there are numerous accounts with six to seven-figure sums trapped in bridge contracts, including wallets connected to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Coinbase, and several DeFi whales. To support their claims, Arkham provided screenshots of fund transfers to and from the Arbitrum and Optimism bridges. One wallet, which received 50 Ether from Buterin, has had $1.05 million stuck in the Optimism bridge for seven months. Another wallet linked to Bofur Capital, potentially associated with a Celsius creditor, has $1.8 million in wrapped-Bitcoin (WBTC) trapped in the Arbitrum bridge for 27 months. Thomasg.eth, the pseudonymous founder of Arrow, a decentralized air transportation solution, has $800,000 in Ether stuck in the Arbitrum bridge. Additionally, Coinbase attempted to bridge $75,000 in USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum via the Optimism bridge six months ago, but it has not been claimed on Ethereum’s base layer. However, there is a possibility that the owners of these wallets still have control over the funds and have chosen to keep them there voluntarily. Cross-chain bridges play a crucial role in modular blockchain networks like Ethereum, offloading transaction responsibilities to layer 2s while prioritizing data availability and security on the base layer. Nevertheless, bridges have become attractive targets for hackers due to potential vulnerabilities in smart contracts or highly centralized validator sets. One example is the $650 million Ronin bridge hack orchestrated by North Korea’s state-backed Lazarus Group, which gained access to five out of nine private keys held by transaction validators in March 2022. A team of white hat hackers called “SEAL 911” has been formed to combat crypto hacks in real time.