原文作者：Blockbeats
原文来源:Blockbeats
This weekend, ZKasino, a decentralized betting platform based on the ZK ecosystem, was caught in a storm of "running away": tampering with the introduction of website activities, refusing to return the ETH pledged by users participating in the event, closing the Telegram speaking privileges, canceling the offline meeting in Dubai, and transferring user funds to Lido for staking without authorization...... Many users have questioned whether ZKasino has been "soft rug"?
The beginning and end of the ZKasino event
Back on April 19, a number of community users found that ETH refunds were not open for a long time after the ZKasino staking event ended. Later, through the Wayback Machine, ZKasino deleted the sentence "Ethereum will be returned and can be bridged" from the Bridge funds page on the official website on April 18, causing panic among users to question whether it was planning to "take the money and run away". Users who participated in the staking activity poured into ZKasino's official tweet to question, and Telegram also became a position for rights protection, but it didn't take long for ZKasino team members to close their Telegram speaking privileges.
On April 20, the MEXC trading platform, which was originally scheduled to launch ZKasino (ZKAS) on the same day, announced that it would postpone the launch and withdrawal, and the ZKAS deposit would also be temporarily suspended. MEXC staff responded to ZKasino's "running away" question, saying, "We are only one of the investors, and the behavior of the project party has nothing to do with us, and we, as investors, are also victims. 」
After much pressure, ZKasino finally made a brief response: there are a lot of FUD rumors at the moment. The ZKasino network will remain live after some delays due to exchange listings.
However, users did not buy this simple response, and "when to get a refund", "whether it is a soft run", and "why did you change the description of the mainnet refund" have become the main contradictions at present.
On April 21, according to on-chain analyst Ember monitoring, ZKasino transferred the 10,515 ETH deposited by users to a multisig address, and then deposited it into Lido. These ETH were bridged by users to deposit into ZKasino for mining, but the ZKasino project team modified the official website description and forcibly exchanged the ETH deposited by users for its platform tokens.
On April 22, Big Brain Holdings, which had previously been disclosed as one of ZKasino's investment institutions, issued an article "refuting rumors", denying that it had participated in ZKasino's financing.
At this point, it seems that users' worries are being "confirmed" step by step. Some users also found that as early as March 16, Kedar, the founder of ZigZag, an Ethereum Layer 2 ecological DEX project, had warned that there seemed to be a problem with ZKasino, and in Kadar's tweet, he mentioned that most of ZKasino's income was fake, and users should be cautious about participating in their ICO activities.
At the moment, ZKasino's latest tweet only announced the project's next steps: "All ZKasino games will be moved to the new chain - and will remain on Arbitrum and Polygon. Native DEXs and stablecoins will be launched soon. The first ZKAS were distributed to the bridgers. 」
However, there was no congratulations or celebrations in the tweet reply, only users asked over and over again, "When will I get my money?"
Suggestions and opinions on crypto VC and KOLs
As a "star" project on ZK, many KOLs participated in and recommended the project in the early days of its launch. Now that there is such a negative event, these KOLs have naturally become the target of public criticism. In the crypto field, how to avoid stepping on pits, who should be responsible for project problems?ABCDE Capital co-creator Du Jun, crypto KOL 0xSatoshis, @0xkillthewolf, etc., expressed their opinions, and BlockBeats organized as follows:
ABCDE 联创杜均(@DujunX):
Regarding the project team's runaway, seeing that everyone is holding investment institutions and KOLs accountable, I think it makes sense but is a bit ridiculous.
In the crypto field, 95% of investment institutions are in fact disadvantaged groups, licking the project party to get the quota, licking the platform to get the currency, licking the LP to give money, and properly licking the dog.
Good projects don't have any of these agencies in the first few rounds, let alone DD the project team, and thank God for being able to pay for the address. If the KOL does not collect money and shout orders, it is difficult to be held accountable at the legal level, and can only be morally condemned. As far as the eye can see, only the head exchange is at the top of the food chain, and the other characters are just playing soy sauce.
In the jungle society of Crypro, we must pay for our own investment results and continue to learn in order to earn more and live longer.
Finally, we strongly condemn the runaway project parties and the KOLs who shout orders for these runaway projects, and look forward to the unscrupulous projects being punished by law and returning the coins as soon as possible, so that everyone's wallets are safe.
Crypto art creator Niq (@niqislucky) replied:
Let's admit it: the vast majority of pledge projects will send money to the "multi-signature address". Unless the team is well-known, VC brand endorsement is almost the entire trust base of retail investors. KOL is responsible for spreading and even taking the blame.
The contrast between VCs is weak. The gods save the game, and if you can't get in, it's a dish. No matter how much it goes, for retail investors, it is still completely crushed by information/funds. Not at the same level, who is it written to empathize with? Retail investors only feel that it is crocodile tears...
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加密 Kol 0xasatoshis(@0क्ससतोशीस):
In view of the state of Zkasino's soft run, I have reviewed all the staking projects today, except for ATOM+OSMO+TIA+DYM staking
At present, the projects participating in the staking are:
1) (+eigenlayer+renzo+20E (+20E)
2) The initial 25E investment of blast is now only 6E, and the points inflation is serious
3)list 5000 多 U
4）merlin 就质押了 Runestone
5) The bouncebit is less than 10,000 U
Next, the principal will be recovered from time to time, or reduce the position to a reasonable position (the so-called reasonable is to zero, it is also acceptable), I always feel that the risk of nesting doll pledge is so big now, a dollar in A\B\C\D\E each project pledge TVL has become 5 yuan, but the market is still only 1 yuan, in case the middle of the water runs away, or there is a hacker attack, the risk is continuous, while there is still liquidity to exit the part first.
In addition, I would like to emphasize again, don't believe in KOLs shouting orders, including me, a little leek, just study the content shared by others, as for whether to invest in the end, you must decide by yourself, investment is our own business, KOL provides us with content, provides information, and assists us in decision-making.
For novices, it is recommended to participate less in the pledge project, the principal is the first, the old leeks should control the position, and the low-cost game is critical.
Brothers, you can make less money, you can't lose all of it, pledge to control the position, it is not recommended to use over-the-counter leverage to borrow money to pledge, nothing is impossible in web3, don't always feel that there will be no problems, many people at FTX at the beginning, including me, thought so, no snowflake is innocent during the avalanche, so do your own risk control in advance and be responsible for your wealth.
Finally: all the projects I have participated in in this article are only my own review, do not constitute investment advice, and I am currently reducing my position. JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES, DYOR!
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加密 KOL 杀破狼 killthewolf.eth(@0xkillthewolf):
ZKasino This matter is now boiling, although I did not invest in this project and did not participate in the pledge, but a total of 4 people before and after asked me if I want to invest in this KOL round, I write my thoughts & experience here, I hope it will be helpful for everyone to screen projects in the future.
The valuation of the KOL round is 900w US dollars, and the TGE unlocks 15%, which is a no-brainer at first glance, because the institutional valuation is 350 million US dollars, and I am 40 times cheaper than the institution. As for TGE only unlocking 15%, in fact, I can return to the cost of FDV for only $6,000w at the opening, and the institution has already given a valuation of $350 million.
The 2 main reasons why I didn't end up participating:
First, why is it valued at 350 million? Recently, Ethena on Binance is valued at 300 million, Puffer Finance is valued at 200 million, and ZKasino is a spinach platform with a valuation of 350 million, so I am skeptical about this round of financing because of this valuation number.
Second, the project party claims that the revenue is 800w, although everyone defaults to this number is somewhat watery, but I still checked the top 20 user addresses on the platform, and all of them are suspected to be the small addresses of the project party.
Third, the founder's character is very problematic, and before their official account used a bloody video of a murder case to joke about marketing, that incident also caused a stir at the time, and @zachxbt also exposed all kinds of things that this person had done: https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1731025316204745113
So from my point of view, the valuation is fake, the revenue is fake, the character is rotten, and the conscience is not, so in the end, I didn't participate, and I was lucky to avoid a big hole.