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Multichain

Crypto cross-chain bridgeSingapore/China
New to Unitard
💀 Dead / Bankrupt
Peak $1.2 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    Dec 2021
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $1.2 Billion ’21
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    Jul 2023
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
Capital raised
$60M
Total raised
$54.1K/day
Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 3.0 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: Multichain release / Finance Magnates ($60M Dec 2021 round; no earlier priced equity round found)
Current status
Ceased operations July 14, 2023, weeks after Chinese police detained its CEO; Multichain Foundation ordered wound up by the Singapore High Court May 9, 2025 on Sonic Labs' (formerly Fantom) petition, with KPMG as liquidators

The rise & fall

7 moments · 2020–2025

The key moments.

2020
Launches as Anyswap
A cross-chain swap service that becomes a bridge for moving tokens between blockchains.
CryptoSlate
Dec 21 ’21
The peak: renamed Multichain, $60M at about $1.2B$1.2B
Days after the rebrand, Binance Labs leads the round with Sequoia China, IDG Capital and others.
Finance Magnates
May 31 ’23
The team can't reach its CEO or its servers
Cross-chain transfers stall; Multichain says it cannot contact chief executive Zhaojun or get the server access it needs.
Decrypt
Jul 6 ’23
More than $126M drains from its bridges
Assets move out of the Fantom, Moonriver and Dogechain bridge contracts to unknown addresses.
Unchained
Jul 14 ’23
Ceases operations — joins the Unitard Club 💔
Multichain says Chinese police took its CEO on May 21 and that the team is forced to cease operations.
Decrypt
Jan 30 ’24
Fantom wins a Singapore default judgment
Fantom Foundation's suit against Multichain Foundation goes undefended.
Fantom Foundation
May 9 ’25
Singapore court orders the foundation wound up
The order follows a petition by Sonic Labs, formerly Fantom; KPMG is appointed liquidator.
Cointelegraph
$1.2Bof peak value erased · 3 years

How it happened

Multichain started in 2020 as Anyswap, a cross-chain swap service, and became one of the largest bridges for moving crypto assets between blockchains. After renaming itself in December 2021, it announced a $60M round led by Binance Labs, with Sequoia China and IDG Capital, that it said valued it at about $1.2B.

In May 2023 Chinese police took away its chief executive, known publicly only as Zhaojun, and the team lost access to the servers it needed to run the bridge. In early July more than $120M moved out of its bridge contracts to unknown addresses. On July 14, 2023, Multichain said it was forced to cease operations. A Singapore court ordered its foundation wound up in May 2025.

Source: Multichain release (PR Newswire, Dec 21, 2021) and Finance Magnates (Dec 21, 2021): $60M round led by Binance Labs with Sequoia China, IDG Capital and others values Multichain at about $1.2B; CoinDesk (Dec 21, 2021) on the Anyswap rebrand. Decrypt and CryptoSlate (May 31, 2023): team cannot reach its CEO or access servers. Unchained (July 7, 2023) and the Singapore High Court ([2024] SGHC 173): more than $126M moved out of bridge contracts on July 6-7, 2023. The Block and Decrypt (July 14, 2023): Multichain says CEO Zhaojun was taken by police on May 21 and the team is forced to cease operations. Fantom Foundation blog (Jan 30, 2024): default judgment; Cointelegraph (May 15, 2025): winding-up order of May 9, 2025, KPMG liquidators.

Founder

  • Zhaojun
    co-founder & CEO (detained May 2023)
    No public profile matched

Disclosed investors (10)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-22 · Methodology · Leaderboard

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