- The CEO of cross-chain bridge Multichain has apparently been missing for a week
- Multichain users have had funds trapped on the platform and there have been suggestions of police involvement
- Many expect a rug pull following a dramatic collapse of the project’s token price
The CEO of the $1.4 billion DeFi project Multichain has been missing for more than a week, leading to doubts over whether the project can continue. Multichain, a cross-chain protocol previously called AnySwap, broke the news on May 31, saying that the protocol had experienced “multiple issues due to unforeseeable circumstances”, namely that its CEO, known only as Zhaojun, had gone AWOL. This followed suggestions that the entire Multichain team had been rounded up by Chinese police, but it seems that only Zhaojun is the absent party, and his continuing absence may have a profoundly negative impact on the project’s already precarious future.
CEO Disappears Following User Complaints
Multichain tweeted last Wednesday that it was “currently unable to contact” Zhaojun right at the time of some much-needed maintenance, which was problematic because he held access to the servers:
In the past two days, the Multichain protocol has experienced multiple issues due to unforeseeable circumstances. 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…
— Multichain (Previously Anyswap) (@MultichainOrg) May 31, 2023
It asked users to stop using the service while it tried to find a workaround in order to address problems that have been going on for almost two weeks. The project has been grappling with issues related to trapped user funds and a sell-off of its MULTI token since May 24, with users complaining that they couldn’t access funds they had entrusted to the bridge. These concerns triggered a significant wave of selling for the MULTI token, and now Multchain’s concerns have been multiplied by the apparent disappearance of its CEO.
Exit Scam?
Naturally, in a world where rug pulls and exit scams have ranged from the childish to the dramatic, many believe this is just another example of a CEO taking the money and running. A few days before Zhaojun’s disappearance, a tweet was posted suggesting that Chinese police had arrested the entire team:
It’s rumored that the multichain team has been arrested by the Chinese police, with 1.5 billion dollars of contract funds under control, and some team members transferred 494200 multi tokens from the team address to gate today. Please be aware of the risks.$multi #MultiChain pic.twitter.com/KpB9ehl5ls
— 0xfleet (@0xfleet) May 24, 2023
Other less spectacular theories have since been doing the rounds:
Theft at this point ..
— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) May 31, 2023
This tweet sounds like one of those Ugandan prince letters
— lewtoshi (@lewtoshi) May 31, 2023
Will Zhaojun surface and resurrect Multichain, or is his disappearance the end of the line for the project? We’ll just have to wait and see.
