Alleged scam ZKasino gives users 72-hour window to reclaim their ETH
Quick Take
- ZKasino claimed that users could bridge back their ETH at a 1:1 ratio after the funds were held for nearly two months.
- It gave users a 72-hour window — from 28 May to 31 May — to register for a reclaim process.
- Over 10,000 investors had bridged more than $33 million worth of crypto on ZKasino at launch.
- These funds were converted into ZKAS tokens at an inflated price without user consent, leading to allegations that the project was a scam.
ZKasino, a crypto gambling platform embroiled in scam allegations and investigated by Dutch authorities, claimed that users of the platform can bridge back their ETH at a 1:1 ratio — funds that had been held hostage for nearly two months.
In April, ZKasino abruptly changed its token redeeming policies around the time of launch. This change prevented investors from reclaiming their bridged ether tokens, initially promised by the project.
By the time of launch, over 10,000 investors had already bridged more than $33 million worth of crypto on ZKasino. These funds were converted into ZKAS tokens at an inflated price without user consent, leading to scam allegations.
These users or "bridgers" have now been given a narrow 72-hour window — from 28 May at 14:00 UTC to 31 May at 14:00 UTC — to register for the reclaim process. The registration requires users to deposit their first received batch of ZKAS bridge rewards back to the platform, forfeiting any future releases of ZKAS tokens scheduled over the next 14 months.
The sign-up process is restricted to the original ETH deposit addresses through which the ZKAS bridge rewards were initially received. Participants were asked to connect to the ZKasino network via its website, which would automatically verify the original deposit address.
During this process, users are required to deposit their full balance of ZKAS tokens from these addresses, although allowances are made for deductions needed to cover transaction gas fees.
The platform’s founder, Ildar Elham, also known as Derivatives Ape, appears to have a shady history involving previous failed crypto projects like ZigZagExchange and Syncus, which continues to raise concerns about the platform’s operations and the latest claims made by the project.
This comes after Dutch investigators arrested a 26-year-old man associated with ZKasino (who was widely considered to be Elham) and seized physical and digital records, and various assets worth 11.4 million euros ($12.2 million), including real estate and cryptocurrencies, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service of the Netherlands (FIOD) said.
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