EVO DeFi Bridge (EVO) is a cross-chain bridge connected to multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, BSC, Fantom, Avalanche, and Oasis Emerald ParaTime. The main use is bridging funds from other blockchains onto the Oasis blockchain, where the received funds are imported into EVO’s own application ValleySwap. The bridge use a smart contract to lock existing tokens as collateral and mint new claim tokens on the target blockchain. Allegedly, the operators misappropriated client funds.
The Case In A Nutshell
The bridge works by sending collateral to EVO (largely on Ethereum), which they store as collateral and then issue a corresponding claim token on the target chain. When bridging back to a non-Oasis chain, the collateral is released, and the claim token is “burned.” However, instead of holding the collateral, the EVO team allegedly misappropriated roughly $45.5 million, or almost 50% of the total collateral. When the alleged misappropriation was exposed, EVO then stopped all communication with its clients (victims).
According to a RugDoc report, EVODeFi invested users’ funds in Terra’s Anchor Protocol. The team allegedly minted unbacked USDT. With the Terra collapse, EVODeFi lost their investment, their unbacked USDT was worthless, and they had no liquidity to be able to continue and run their bridge. Thus EVODeFi was forced to close its bridge, trapping millions of dollars worth of users’ funds on Oasis, with no way to move funds out of Oasis without losing a majority of the fund’s value.
A Belarus Project
A Belarusian team around Aleksei Rudakov Mikhailovich (pictured left) and his family is said to be behind EVO. Its customers have filed several fraud complaints with law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions, which FinTelegram has received.
Stay tuned for more updates on this alleged crypto crime case.