TechFlow reports that on July 31, Eduard, founder of derivatives DEX ZKX, responded to questions about why ZKX decided to shut down despite raising $7.6 million in funding and only recently launching its TGE weeks ago. He explained that the $7.6 million was raised between 2021 and 2024 to support a 30-member team building a dedicated blockchain for scaling perpetual contracts. This funding covered multiple code audits with Nethermind, TGE listing fees, AWS cloud service costs (due to high L3 expenses), and developer outreach initiatives for Cairo programming.
Eduard emphasized that all user funds have been fully returned, over 80% of users have withdrawn from the protocol, and the main wallet is self-custodial. No core founders sold any tokens, yet their four years of effort and life's work have ultimately failed. Additionally, he noted that DeFi teams face immense community pressure, vulnerabilities, scams, and hacker attacks. The team did its best to protect user funds, and Binance is aware of the identities of some attackers. Reflecting on the experience, Eduard acknowledged that opting for an omnichain smart contract protocol instead of an L3 might have been a more financially sound strategic decision. He concluded that the team has learned valuable lessons from this painful experience.
Previous report: Starknet-based DEX ZKX will cease operations; users are advised to withdraw funds before September.
