$20M ETH Return to ZKasino Multisig, Hopes for Refund
Around $21 million worth of wstETH has been returned to the project's wallet, raising hopes for investors to recover their funds.
Around two-thirds of the sum taken in the exit scam, approximately 6,021 wstETH, has been returned recently. Blockchain-based gambling project ZKasino's wallet received over $20 million worth of bridged Ether, nearly three weeks after suspicions arose about an exit scam. A feed set up for recovering funds from the ZKasino exit scam noted that almost $21 million worth of wstETH had been sent back to the project’s multi-signature wallet, leading to optimism that investors might receive their funds as promised.
"One of the three scammers just sent the funds back to the original multi-sig wallet address," said the $JAIL feed, providing Etherscan proof of the transfers.
The 6,021 wstETH returned is a significant portion of the missing amount, prompting speculation about potential refunds for victims.
UPDATE! 2/3 of the Zkasino $ZKAS bridged eth are now back on the multi-sig wallet!https://t.co/rIYEHOL7my
Could they be preparing to refund the victims ?? pic.twitter.com/oNT39faXvT — $JAIL (@jail_monke) May 9, 2024
ZKasino, launched on April 20, enticed users with a ZKAS token airdrop for bridging ETH, promising to return the ETH. However, the project moved around $33 million of users’ bridged Ethereum to the Lido Finance staking protocol instead of honoring their commitment. This led to accusations of an exit scam or rug pull by more than 10,000 affected users.
Dutch authorities arrested a 26-year-old suspect linked to the alleged ZKasino scam, seizing cryptocurrencies, real estate, and luxury cars valued at around $12.2 million. Speculation arose that the arrested individual might be the project's founder operating under the pseudonym "Derivatives Monke," identified as Elham Nourzai.
2/3 of stolen @ZKasino_io funds now returned to the multisig
hopefully depositors/victims funds are refunded and justice is served for the subjects...
shoutout @binance @heyibinance @cz_binance setting industry precedent and doing what they can for the community????????????
4 pic.twitter.com/7PbqJ36QG3 — Shock (@0xshockman) May 9, 2024
Binance's on-chain investigations team played a crucial role in assisting law enforcement in apprehending the suspect and freezing stolen crypto assets. Despite the arrest, illicit funds continue to move on-chain, suggesting other potential perpetrators might still be active. However, the recent return of funds to the project’s multisig has brought hope to victims. In April, aside from the ZKasino incident, CertiK reported cryptocurrency losses totaling $25.7 million due to scams and hacks, marking the lowest figure since 2021 as per their historical data tracking.
