ZKsync Airdrop Exploit Triggers Market Reactions

2 mins mins

Key Points:

110 million ZKsync tokens issued, impacting token sales and market prices.
ZK token price drops over 10% due to exploit.
Community questions security measures after admin key compromise.

ZKsync announced a significant security incident involving its airdrop tokens on April 15, 2025. An admin account was compromised, resulting in unauthorized access and on-chain sales amounting to nearly 66 million ZK tokens.

The incident has caused the ZK token price to drop over 10% in an hour, prompting widespread concern within the crypto community.

ZKsync Airdrop Exploit: 66 Million Tokens Sold

The ZKsync airdrop contract exploit involved the issue of 110 million tokens, with 66 million sold on-chain. Matter Labs’ executive team reported that user funds were never at risk, and ZK token protocols remain secure. The security team is actively investigating while keeping the community informed on Discord.

Immediate implications include a ZK token price plunge by over 10%, affecting investor confidence and causing a rapid sell-off. The market saw increased trading volume, indicating heightened activity and concern among traders.

“An admin account suffered a compromise, granting the attacker access to nearly $5 million worth of unclaimed tokens from the project’s airdrop allocation. All user funds are safe and have never been at risk. The ZKsync protocol and ZK token contract remained secure, and no further ZK is at risk. Necessary security measures are being taken.”
— Alex Gluchowski, Co-Founder & CEO, Matter Labs

Skepticism Grows as ZK Tokens Drop 10%

Did you know? In past cases similar to the ZKsync airdrop exploit, such as the Mantra (OM) collapse, internal security breaches led to dramatic price drops, further underscoring the need for stringent security in token distribution.

As of the most recent data, ZKsync (ZK) is priced at $0.05, with a market cap of $173.72 million and a trading volume that surged 247.97% to $107.03 million over 24 hours, based on CoinMarketCap. In recent months, the token experienced significant depreciation, with a 74.59% decrease over 90 days.

zksync-daily-chart-3 — ZKsync(ZK), daily chart, screenshot on CoinMarketCap at 03:09 UTC on April 16, 2025. *Source: CoinMarketCap*

The Coincu research team suggests that stricter security protocols could mitigate similar incidents and provide stability. Integrating multi-party computation wallets is recommended to enhance token security. Such measures aim to restore community trust and prevent future breaches.