Failed Scam: ZKasino Founder Guides Investors on Recovering Stolen ETH

There seems to be a positive turn of events for the investors involved with the troubled ZKasino project. The founder of the project, known as Derivatives Monke on X (formerly Twitter), has posted detailed instructions for users on how to get their ETH back at a one-to-one ratio.

Earlier in April, we covered how the blockchain-based gambling platform was accused of tricking investors and taking their deposited ETH. ZKasino lured users with the promise of an airdrop of its native token, ZKAS, if they transferred their ETH to its network. At first, they promised to give back the ETH but later decided to keep it and only hand out the tokens.

The project reportedly amassed over 10,000 ETH (approximately $31 million) from more than 10,000 participants. Following these controversial actions, several accusations emerged from investors, contractors, and other stakeholders, questioning the project’s integrity.

Compounding the situation, Dutch authorities recently arrested an individual linked to ZKasino, seizing assets worth about $12.2 million, including cryptocurrencies, real estate, and luxury vehicles. Even Binance chimed in on its X, confirming its cooperation with Dutch authorities in investigating what it described as a gambling exit scam.

Now, it seems likely that ZKasino’s team made a deal with the authorities to return the stolen funds. However, even the communication around the return of funds is a bit suspicious. They only gave a 72-hour window from 28 to 31 May for users to claim back their ETH, and they used Derivatives Monke’s personal account for announcements rather than the official @ZKasino_io account. So, users are advised to ensure this announcement is genuine before connecting their wallets to the ZKasino website. 

Nevertheless, according to Derivatives Monke, users must return all the ZKAS tokens they received as rewards to get their ETH back. They will also lose out on getting any more ZKAS tokens for the next 14 months. Considering the token is not trading anymore, and the project has lost credibility, giving up the ZKAS tokens might not be seen as a big loss by many.

Moreover, the project looks abandoned, as its founders have not communicated with its followers on X and Telegram for over a month, except for the announcement about the return of the ETH. 

Despite everything, the Zkasino team continues to deny doing anything wrong. The team maintains that they have been honest in their efforts over the past three years and are still working hard to make the project successful.

The future of ZKasino, however, remains uncertain as the community and authorities watch closely.