Hacker Returns $5.7 Million, Yet ZKsync Token Still Struggles

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In a curious twist of fate, a week after the ZKsync hack, the mysterious exploiter—perhaps driven by guilt, greed, or a bizarre sense of fairness—has returned a significant chunk of the stolen treasure.

Despite the miraculous recovery of the funds, ZK, the network’s beleaguered token, continues to face a grim future, plunging further into bearish sentiment. Can anyone save it from its downward spiral? 🐻

ZKSync Hacker Surrenders $5.7 Million (With a Little Bounty on the Side)

On April 15, the Ethereum-based scalability marvel, ZKsync, was rocked by a hack. The villain in this tale made off with a hefty $5 million in ZK tokens. The market promptly responded, dropping ZK’s price by 16%, and the drama unfolded on social media as accusations swirled. Oh, what a thrilling plotline! 📉

ZKsync played a trump card. The hacker—let’s call them “the Robin Hood of the Blockchain”—returned 90% of the stolen funds, just in time to meet the safe harbor deadline.

“We are pleased to announce that the hacker has honored the safe harbor deadline, returning the funds in full cooperation. The case is now closed, and the assets are in the hands of the Security Council,” the ZKsync Nation triumphantly declared on X.

On April 21, the ZKsync Security Council made a bold move: offering the hacker a 10% bounty for their troubles, in exchange for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. A classic win-win, right?

“In the spirit of safe harbor, we are offering a 10% bounty for your cooperation. Return 90% of the funds, and we’ll consider this matter resolved,” ZK Nation tweeted.

The hacker, with a sudden burst of altruism (or perhaps just a desire to avoid a deeper punishment), agreed to the terms. On April 23, the funds were transferred back, and everyone got their happy ending—well, almost everyone. 😅

In a series of three transfers, nearly $5.7 million was returned to the ZKsync Security Council. Two of these transactions took place on the ZKsync Era blockchain, including a transfer of $1.83 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and another for $2.47 million in ZKsync tokens. 🤑

And as a cherry on top, the hacker sent 776 ETH (valued at around $1.4 million) to the ZKsync Security Council’s Ethereum address, completing the return. Talk about following instructions to the letter. 📜

Now, the ZKsync Association has promised a final report on the incident. Stay tuned for more details, folks—this saga is far from over.

However, despite the return of the funds, ZK’s value remains in the gutter. The token’s price dropped nearly 2% in the past 24 hours, landing at a modest $0.06. So much for a grand recovery. 😬

Meanwhile, other platforms have turned to bounty programs to prevent similar incidents. Bybit’s latest initiative has offered up to 10% of recovered funds, leading to the return of $1.4 billion in stolen assets, though not entirely thanks to the original exploiters. Some heroes, huh? 🦸‍♂️

Elsewhere, Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson is testing his own security by offering a $1 million bounty to anyone who can hack the Lace Paper Wallet. Talk about an open invitation. Meanwhile, Uniswap is breaking records with a $15.5 million bug bounty targeting vulnerabilities in its v4 core contracts. Better luck next time, ZKsync. 😆

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2025-04-24 10:46