Crypto whales appear to have ‘forgotten’ millions on bridges, Arkham finds

Crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence found that millions of dollars worth of crypto tokens are reportedly languishing in various bridges, unclaimed by their owners.

It has identified several accounts with large amounts of cryptocurrency left unclaimed in bridge contracts. Among those involved are DeFi and NFT players and certain firms, including a connection to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

According to Arkham, several notable cases involve large sums of cryptocurrencies forgotten on bridges — applications that facilitate the transfer of assets between different blockchains. 

“There are dozens of accounts with six to seven figures stuck in bridge contracts, forgotten about,” the firm noted. "If you’re on this list, you may have misplaced a few million dollars."

Among the reported incidents, a wallet with the ENS name thomasg.eth left about $800,000 in the Arbitrum's native bridge, an amount that has remained there for nearly two years.

Another Ethereum address connected to an entity named Bofur Capital has about 27 wrapped bitcoin ($1.8 million) that has not been moved from the Arbitrum bridge for over two years, according to the firm. This address holds assets worth more than $14 million, according to Arkham's data. 

Similarly, an account connected to an NFT user identified on X as Mike Macdonald appeared to have forgotten about claiming around $117,000 in assets linked to Cryptopunks sales on a bridge contract. This suggest that large crypto holders may face similar challenges in tracking assets when moving them across chains.

In a particularly notable case, an account that received 50 ETH from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has left these funds in the Optimism bridge for about seven months. The total unclaimed amount stands at roughly $1.05 million. "Vitalik, if you own this address, PSA: you have a million dollars of ETH in the Optimism bridge," Arkham wrote, addressing Buterin. 

Unlike cross-chain bridge protocols like Across and Hop, where users automatically receive their funds on the other chain, there can be scenarios with native bridges where users have to manually claim them. And if users forget to do so, the smart contract has no means to remind them, leading some users potentially forgetting their funds.

Arkham reminded individuals and entities involved to revisit their transaction histories and bridge activities to ensure that all assets are accounted for.