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Dozens of crypto whale wallets with assets ranging from six to seven figures are stuck on multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) bridge contracts.

One of these whale wallets is linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who has over $1 million worth of assets stuck for over seven months, with other wallets having assets unclaimed for over two years.

According to a report published by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, several notable whale addresses linked to prominent crypto individuals and entities have their funds stuck in the bridge contracts for as long as two years.

DeFi bridge contracts are software protocols that allow the movement of assets and data between different blockchain networks, enabling interoperability within the DeFi ecosystem.

However, not all DeFi bridges function the same. On the one hand, cross-chain bridges enable users to automatically obtain their assets on the other chain.

On the other hand, traders using native bridges must retrieve their funds manually as there is no way for the smart contract to remind users to do so, which could result in situations where users forget their money.

One wallet linkedto thomasg.eth has had $800,000 stuck in Arbitrum Bridge for one year and 10 months. Another wallet, linked to Bofur Capital, with 27 wrapped Bitcoin worth $1.8 million, has been stuck for two years and three months.

Similarly, another wallet linked to nonfungible token (NFT) user Mike Macdonald has about $117,000 in assets linked to CryptoPunks sales stuck on a bridge contract.

Arkham suggested the account owner take a look, reminding them that if they own the account that sent 5 CryptoPunks to, then you might also own the account that received the proceeds after they were sold.

Another wallet that received 50 Ether (ETH) from Vitalik.eth seems to have been forgotten for seven months despite holding nearly $1 million worth of ETH on the Optimism bridge.

Another linked to Coinbase crypto exchange was also identified and contains $75,000 worth of assets stuck for nearly six months.

Arkham suspects Coinbase tried bridging $75,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) to ETH and forgot about it. The assets are stuckin the Optimism bridge contract and waiting to be claimed.

Arkham notified whales linked to the stuck and forgotten funds to retrieve them in case they had forgotten about them. It also reminded the community that these instances can occur due to the nature of cross-chain bridges.

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Wallets linked to Coinbase and Vitalik Buterin have millions 'stuck' in bridge contracts - Cointelegraph

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Vitalik Buterin Backs Ethereum PoS Transition amid Community Debates - FX Empire

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, publicly criticizes the recent renewal of FISA Section 702, raising concerns over the implications for privacy and the cryptocurrency sector. The U.S. Senate passed the renewal 60-34, extending the legislation for two years.

Senate Debates, Buterin Warns of Privacy Risks

During intense debate, the Senate saw a division among its members, with some pushing for stricter personal data protections. Despite these efforts, the renewal was approved just as the previous law lapsed.

The law continues to allow warrantless surveillance, primarily targeting foreign individuals but also affects Americans whose communications might be intercepted incidentally.

Buterin emphasized that the lack of substantial enhancements in privacy protections could erode trust within the crypto community. The crypto industry, valuing encryption and anonymity, could face increased governmental oversight, potentially altering how cryptocurrencies operate globally.

As the bill moves to President Joe Biden for his signature, the ongoing discourse highlights the struggle to balance national security interests with protecting individual privacy rights. The outcome will likely influence national security practices, digital currencies future landscape, and their governance.

Also Read: Ethereums Vitalik Buterin Makes Waves with 100 ETH Railgun Deposit

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Vitalik Voices Concerns Over FISA Section 702 Renewal - Crypto Times

Several identified crypto addresses have millions of dollars either stuck or forgotten about in at least two large bridge contracts, according to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham.

There are dozens of accounts with 6-7 figures stuck in bridge contracts, forgotten about, said Arkhamin an April 22 X post., including wallets connected to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto exchange Coinbase, and several DeFi whales.

The firm attached two screenshots of fund transfers to and from the Arbitrum and Optimism bridges to support their case.

Arkham noted a wallet that received 50 Ether (ETH) from Buterin has had $1.05 million stuck in the Optimism bridge for seven months now. If the address is owned by Buterin, it would represent a small fraction of his $789 million cryptocurrency portfolio, according to Arkhams data.

Another wallet linked to Bofur Capital, which shares the same name as a Celsius creditor, has $1.8 million in wrapped-Bitcoin (WBTC) stuck in the Arbitrum bridge, which hasnt moved in 27 months, while Thomasg.eth the pseudonymous founder behind decentralized air transportation solution Arrow has $800,000 in Ether stuck in the Arbitrum bridge.

Furthermore, Coinbase tried to bridge $75,000 in USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum six months ago via the Optimism bridge, but it hasnt been claimed on Ethereums base layer yet, Arkham said.

Related: Wormhole bridge hacker from 2022 was briefly eligible for the recent airdrop

There is, however, also a possibility that the owners behind these wallets still have complete control of the funds and have voluntarily chosen to park the funds there for the time being.

Cross-chain bridges play an important part in modular blockchain networks like Ethereum, which prioritizes data availability and security on the base layer and offloads transaction responsibilities to layer 2s.

However, bridges have become a honeypot site for hackers, as they are often automated by potentially vulnerable smart contracts or a highly centralized validator set.

For example, the $650 million Ronin bridge hack orchestrated by North Koreas state-backed Lazarus Group came after it obtained access to five of the nine private keys held by transaction validators in March 2022.

Magazine: SEAL 911 team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

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DeFi whales have millions 'forgotten' in bridge contracts: Arkham - Cointelegraph

The possibility of a TikTok ban is inching closer to becoming a reality at this point. On Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill that would bar the social media platform from operating in the U.S. unless ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, sells its stake.

Next stop: President Joe Bidens desk, where its expected to be signed. That said, it could still be a lengthy process to find a buyer and could lead to a legal fight. TikToks golden goose is its algorithm, which China likely wont sell off as part of any deal and thus, calling into question what exactly a buyer would get in purchasing the platform. In the meantime, it shrouds the social media stratosphere in another layer of uncertainty as marketers are faced with the threat of losing a segment of their digital audiences. It begs the question: In todays social landscape, do brands ever own their audiences?

The answer is no, according to three agency executives who say its time to start exploring contingency plans that dont hinge on any of the walled gardens of social media titans like Meta, X or TikTok. Looking for the next frontier, some are pointing toward the fediverse.

Related Insights

Essentially, the fediverse upends the walled garden nature of todays landscape, allowing users from different platforms and services to interact with one another without creating individual accounts for each platform.

Everything is becoming more segmented and its hard to really get an understanding of whos really seeing your content, and how these people are interacting with it, said Shatesha Scales-Flanigan, supervisor of paid social at Rain the Growth Agency. Now, more than ever, she added, brands need a place where consumers can find them, even if social platforms go away.

Social media platforms have become fundamentally unstable places to build audiences, says Nilesh Ashra, CEO of OK Tomorrow, a consultancy. TikTok is just the latest platform subject to changes, similar to Elon Musks takeover of X (formerly Twitter) last year.

What this represents is another clear sign that as a brand, you cant only invest in a single platform that isnt yours, Ashra said.

A few players have already bought into the idea of diversifying to become less dependent on the social media behemoths. The most notable of said players is Meta, which finally made good on its promise to launch Threads into the fediverse last month. Its a beta experience, but it means that users can share their Threads post to others platforms using the same ActivityPub-compliant servers that Threads is hosted on, like Mastodon. ActivityPub powers and enables platforms like Threads and Mastodon to operate within the greater fediverse.

Meanwhile, newsletter platform Ghost adopted ActivityPub earlier this week, following Flipboard, a news and social network aggregation platform, which has also entered the fediverse, making content available to anyone on federated social networks like Mastodon and Threads, earlier this month.

Our goal is if youre on Flipboard, youre in the fediverse, said Mike McCue, Flipboard CEO and co-founder. Like others, McCue said its becoming increasingly important to invest in the next iteration of the web. Per McCue, social media could be likened to a toll both where content creators, brands and publishers alike, dont really own their audience. They rent their audience. Sure, its yet another platform to build out, but, Its your own last place to build a presence and itll always be yours, he added.

Vox Medias technology news publication The Verge says it also has plans to federate its own site to have more ownership over its content and audience, according to The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel.

You want to bet on that bet on people who are building new things, solving new problems, who are excited about finding a new version of this internet, he said.

While publishers and social platforms themselves aim to be first-movers, its been a tougher sell for marketers who are more concerned with return on investment than anything else, agencies say.

Theyre already present on so many different social media platforms, and this would be another one to add to that list, Martin Pagh Ludvigsen, director of creative tech and AI at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, said in an email. Theres no real sense of energy of FOMO (fear of missing out) in the fediverse right now, he said. The fediverse doesnt solve any immediate business problems for any of the agencys clients and its more difficult to understand than say Instagram or TikTok. But that could change if the ban on TikTok comes to fruition.

That should be an opportunity for brands to join whatever platforms will come in to fill the void left behind by TikTok, he said.

Senior media reporter Sara Guaglione contributed to this report.

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As TikTok ban threatens stability in social media ecosystem, some brands settle into the fediverse - Digiday