Multichain

Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.

1. July 2020

   Launched as Anyswap

   Started as a cross-chain exchange; in early 2021 it dropped the exchange function and concentrated on bridging assets between chains.

2. 16 December 2021

   Anyswap becomes Multichain

   The rebrand came with a new governance token, MULTI, swapped one for one from the old ANY token, with a fixed supply of 100 million.

3. 21 December 2021

   The bridge reports adoption and expansion plans

   The project reported more than 300,000 users and over $5 billion locked, and said it planned research, security audits and support hiring.

4. 21 May 2023

   Its chief executive is taken away by police, the project later says

   Multichain disclosed this only on 14 July. It said he had been out of contact since, and that his computers, phones, hardware wallets and recovery phrases had been confiscated.

5. 24 May 2023

   Some bridge routes stop, citing force majeure

   Multichain said some cross-chain routes were unavailable due to force majeure and that it did not know when service would resume. Users reported transfers that had not arrived, and the MULTI token sold off.

6. 7 July 2023

   Assets leave the bridge to unknown addresses

   Multichain said user assets were moved out of the bridge's addresses abnormally, and that a login from Kunming had been found on the cloud server account. Two days later, it said, the chief executive's sister moved about $220 million of remaining user assets to wallets she controlled, to preserve them.

7. 14 July 2023

   Multichain ceases operations

   It said the sister had been taken into custody the day before, that the status of the assets she held was uncertain, and that for lack of information and operational funds the team was forced to stop. It asked users not to use the service.

Multichain said on 14 July 2023 that it was ceasing operations. It said its chief executive had been taken away by Chinese police on 21 May, that the servers running the bridge sat under his personal cloud account, and that on 7 July user assets had been moved out of the bridge to unknown addresses. It gave the lack of information and of operational funds as the reason it could not continue, and asked users to stop using the service.

1. Lawsuit18 September 2023

   Fantom Foundation sues the two Multichain companies in Singapore

   Filed in the Singapore High Court against Multichain Foundation Ltd and Multichain Pte Ltd over assets it had placed on the bridge. Its claims included breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.

2. Court ruling30 January 2024

   Default judgment entered against both companies

   Judgment was entered in default rather than after a trial. The judge who later assessed damages stated that he was making no finding on the merits of the claimant's allegations.

3. Court ruling8 July 2024

   Damages assessed at about $2.19 million

   The Singapore High Court ordered the two companies to pay Fantom Foundation US$58,620.55 and US$2,129,250, the second being the value of 4.175 million FTM it had supplied to the bridge.

4. Insolvency proceeding9 May 2025

   Court orders Multichain Foundation wound up

   The Singapore High Court granted the winding-up application brought by Sonic Labs, formerly the Fantom Foundation, and liquidators from KPMG Singapore were appointed.

13 sources behind this page.

1. 1Singapore High Court Approves Multichain Foundation Liquidation After Sonic Labs Petition · blocmates · May 2025
2. 2Recently Exploited Crypto Bridge Shuts, Says China Detained CEO and His Sister · CoinDesk · Jul 2023
3. 3Multichain closes $60 million seed round with participation from Binance Labs · CoinJournal · Dec 2021
4. 4Singapore Court Orders Multichain Foundation Liquidation Following Sonic Labs Lawsuit · DeFi Planet
5. 5Crypto bridge Multichain in turmoil after 'force majeure' leads to stuck funds and token sell-off · DL News · May 2023
6. 6Crypto bridge Multichain says it's ceasing operations after CEO and sister arrested in China · DL News · Jul 2023
7. 7Binance Labs, Others Invest $60 Million in Multichain · FXEmpire · Dec 2021
8. 8Anyswap to officially rebrand as Multichain · PR Newswire (press release issued by Anyswap) · Dec 2021
9. 9Multichain Raises $60 Million In Round Led By Binance Labs · Roundtable · Dec 2021
10. 10Fantom Foundation Ltd v Multichain Foundation Ltd and another [2024] SGHC 173 · Supreme Court of Singapore (eLitigation) · Jul 2024

Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.