Finally, a refund announcement arrives—but are ZKasino's fund return "promises" hiding hidden pitfalls?
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Finally, a refund announcement arrives—but are ZKasino's fund return "promises" hiding hidden pitfalls?
Simply put, despite ZKasino's insistence on its legal operations, legal issues, investor skepticism, and the recent refund announcement have left many questions unanswered.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsCompiled by: Jordan, PANews
Reference: Medium ZKasino
On the evening of May 28, ZKasino, a decentralized betting platform that previously raised 10,515 ETH (approximately $33.2 million) through its bridge reward campaign, announced on Medium the launch of an ETH bridge refund process for users who choose not to participate in the ZKAS token conversion. Bridge participants can register by depositing the initial batch of ZKAS tokens they received as bridge rewards. Once registered, they will forfeit eligibility for the remaining 14 months of ZKAS token releases.
How Was a Promising Project Squandered?
As a blockchain gaming infrastructure project, ZKasino had completed a Series A funding round in March this year at a $350 million valuation, with participation from MEXC, Big Brain Holdings, Trading_axe, Pentoshi, and Sisyphus. While the exact funding amount was not disclosed, the community appeared highly optimistic about the project’s future.
However, just one month later, Big Brain Holdings stated it had never invested in ZKasino and had only been offered proportionally allocated tokens, which it did not receive and would not accept. In mid-April, ZKasino announced the conclusion of its bridge reward campaign, reporting total bridged funds of 10,515 ETH (about $33.2 million). Yet, the community noticed that the project had not specified a timeline for withdrawals. Some users discovered that ZKasino had removed the statement “Ethereum will be returned and can be bridged back” from the Bridge Funds interface, effectively preventing users from withdrawing their funds.
In fact, rumors of ZKasino being a scam had long circulated within the community. ZigZag, a DEX in the zkSync ecosystem, posted on X alleging that multiple individuals had reported accusations of non-payment or fraudulent activities by the ZKasino team. Several former employees and contractors also claimed they were never paid for their work. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, publicly debunked the project, pointing out that ZKasino does not use any actual “ZK” (zero-knowledge proof) technology—it is merely hosted on the zkSync platform—and that the term “ZK” has been exploited by scammers.
In early May, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) announced the arrest of a 26-year-old man suspected of orchestrating a large-scale fraud scheme involving ZKasino. Global victims had invested over $30 million in cryptocurrency on the platform. Dutch authorities seized more than €11.4 million ($12.2 million) worth of cryptocurrency, real estate, and luxury vehicles.
With these fraudulent activities now exposed, ZKasino appears to have no choice but to initiate refunds to its community.
Is the Refund 'Promise' Another Trick?
On May 28, ZKasino announced a two-step bridging process to return ETH on a 1:1 basis to those who opt out of the ZKAS token conversion, claiming the team remains committed and reiterating its efforts to ensure the project's success. However, the announcement triggered widespread skepticism, as users quickly identified potential red flags in the two-step bridge process:
First, ZKasino gave participants only 72 hours to register (from 14:00 UTC on May 28 to 14:00 UTC on May 31—both weekdays). After this short window, registration and deposits will close permanently, potentially blocking many users from reclaiming their funds. Notably, users must register using the original ETH bridge deposit address that initially received the ZKAS bridge rewards. They then need to locate their ZKAS on the ZKasino EVM chain and deposit the tokens back into a smart contract controlled by ZKasino.
Second, ZKasino appears to deliberately ignore staking rewards generated from user deposits. On-chain records show that after the Bridge-to-Earn program ended, ZKasino converted investors’ ETH into Lido’s Wrapped Staked Ether (wstETH). Given Lido’s current staking yield of 3.3% and recent ETH price increases, the accrued staking rewards are expected to exceed $100,000. Some community members question why the platform requires them to go through another complex process instead of simply returning their ETH along with earned rewards.
More importantly—and possibly intentionally—ZKasino once again sidesteps a critical issue: timing. The announcement states that after registration ends, the team will spend “the next few days” collecting registration data (“a few days” without a clear timeframe), and will “soon” publish a new public announcement listing eligible addresses for ETH refunds (“soon” without a defined timeline) for public verification. Only after data verification will the claim portal open, allowing bridge participants to withdraw their ETH 1:1 from a new, audited bridge contract on the Ethereum mainnet—again, with no concrete timeline provided.
In short, despite ZKasino’s insistence on its legitimacy, legal troubles, investor distrust, and the vague terms of its latest refund announcement leave many questions unanswered. As the 72-hour deadline approaches, the crypto community is closely watching whether ZKasino will actually fulfill its promises—or introduce further complications.
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