ZKasino initiates ETH refund process amid mounting scam allegations

Blockchain-powered gambling platform ZKasino has initiated a 72-hour refund process that would return funds to its investors. The decision comes in a month after the project was accused of operating a $33 million rug pull. Despite the refund process dubbed by the project as a “2-step bridge back process,” some investors remain skeptical about the authenticity of the claim and the project’s intentions.

In a Medium post on May 28, ZKasino stated that “bridgers” can sign up and bridge back their Ether (ETH) at a 1:1 ratio.

The refund process requires the “bridger” to send back their full Zkasino (ZKAS) token balance from the original address they used for their initial ETH investment. ZKasino promised to open a claim portal after a data verification process. However, investors who opt for the refund will forfeit any allocated ZKAS and the remaining 14 months of ZKAS release. Despite the update being posted on ZKasino’s Medium page, some investors have expressed concerns about the authenticity of the refund process. Questions have been raised about the choice of a 72-hour window, and some have shared concerns about the possibility of the sign-up page being a wallet drainer or scam.

Adding to the skepticism, the Medium post has not been shared by ZKasino’s official X account, but only by the ZKasino builder known as “Derivatives Monke,” who is at the center of the controversy.

Last month, ZKasino faced severe criticism for breaking a promise to return investor ETH after its network went live. Instead, the platform sent $33 million worth of investor and user funds to Lido for staking, claiming that they had “made changes from our initial plan.”

The platform converted all bridged ETH to ZKAS at a “discounted rate of $0.055” on a 15-month vesting schedule, leading many to accuse the platform of conducting an “exit scam” or “rug pull.”

Just over a week after the controversy erupted, Dutch authorities arrested one of the people suspected to be responsible for the alleged “rug pull” – Derivatives Monke. A few days later, around two-thirds of the stolen funds were returned to the ZKasino multisig wallet. Derivative Monke publicly denied the rug pull allegations on X, stating that they “strongly reject” FIOD’s and Binance’s claims that they have executed an exit scam or rug pull.

While the project claims to be working hard to make amends and ensure its success, the lack of official communication from ZKasino’s main channels and the history of broken promises has left investors wary of the refund process’s legitimacy.