After LayerZero, another star project, ZkSync, took over the airdrop relay in June. Unlike LayerZero, ZkSync’s airdrop did not employ stringent witch hunts, adopting a more egalitarian approach. However, with questionable fund allocations, suspicions of insider trading, and rules favoring project authority, ZkSync faced intense community backlash and resistance.
Despite facing community disputes and controversies, exchanges like Binance and Bitget announced the listing of ZK one after the other. The subsequent price decline dragged ZK into a larger whirlwind of public opinion. It seems that ZkSync, touted as the last hope for L2, unfortunately left users more disappointed.
Compared to the previous LayerZero airdrop, ZkSync, as one of Ethereum’s L2 star projects alongside Arbitrum, Optimism, and Starknet, boasts higher visibility and a longer history. Originating from EthCC in 2019, the team behind zkSync has been dedicated to developing and deploying Rollup with zkSNARK. As the DeFi industry flourished at the beginning of 2020, scalability issues became more prominent in the Ethereum ecosystem. Rollup was the consensus solution for Ethereum’s scaling challenges, but the cryptographic ZK Rollup, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs, emerged as a topic of interest among tech enthusiasts, leading to the rise of zkSync.
In June 2020, ZkSync’s parent company, Matter Labs, officially launched zkSync v1.0 on the Ethereum mainnet, introducing ZK Rollup to leverage zero-knowledge proof circuits to streamline the proof generation process. By enhancing data availability and scalability, zkSync validators were prevented from manipulating user assets, mitigating some risks associated with centralized validators. Consequently, zkSync became one of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s favored projects.
From a technical perspective, zkSync offers significant advantages in security and efficiency over OP Rollup. However, it faces core challenges such as complex algorithms, high engineering complexity, and poor compatibility, hindering its rapid development.
In June 2021, zkSync 2.0 testnet Era was released, leading to zkSync’s mainnet launch in March 2023. With zkEVM being the first open-source mainnet deployed in the Ethereum Rollup ecosystem, zkSync gained rapid popularity. Just two months after its launch, zkSync Era mainnet TVL reached $480 million, with a weekly growth rate of nearly 20%. The number of unique addresses exceeded 920,000, surpassing other Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Starknet at the time.
Capturing the attention of top-tier investors and with the potential to become a star project, zkSync attracted significant interest from users anticipating its token airdrop. However, the project faced backlash from the community due to its controversial airdrop mechanisms and witch addresses proliferating without the stringent screening seen in LayerZero.
Despite the community’s criticisms, zkSync proceeded with the airdrop on June 17th, distributing 3.6 billion ZK tokens to early users and adopters. While the airdrop was anticipated to be a positive development, the detailed allocation rules and subsequent events disappointed many users. The criteria included eligibility checks, basic distributions, and multiplier effects, complicating the process and leading to a backlash from users, transforming what was expected to be a windfall into a large-scale anti-rug pull defense.
The project’s response to the airdrop controversy and witch addresses was met with skepticism, prompting the community to voice their opposition and call for exchanges not to list the ZK token. However, despite the community’s discontent, exchanges like Binance and Bitget proceeded with the listing of ZK, leading to a price decline upon listing.
While the community criticized the decision to list ZK, exchanges prioritized the opportunity to attract trading volume and gain market dominance. Despite the controversy, the star status of ZK could not be denied, especially considering its significant airdrop volume compared to other projects like OP, ARB, and STARK.
The aftermath of the airdrop battle highlighted the impact of zkSync’s innovative fund retention mechanism on future airdrops. With the inclusion of retention time and balance in addition to traditional metrics, future airdrops are likely to become more complex and exclusive, reshaping the landscape for individual airdrop participation.
Looking ahead, zkSync faces challenges in its ecosystem development and profitability. Despite its apparent success, the project’s profitability may decline significantly due to the diminishing gas fees and reduced daily active addresses post-airdrop. With a concentrated focus on DEX and lending, zkSync’s ecosystem struggles to diversify, posing concerns for its long-term viability amidst changing market dynamics.
As the airdrop frenzy subsides and users assess the aftermath, zkSync must navigate the evolving landscape of the crypto space to secure its position as a prominent L2 solution.
