ZKsync Recovers $5M Stolen From Its Hacker

ZK Nation has announced that its hacker has cooperated and returned the $5 million that were stolen from ZKsync within the specified timeframe.

Crypto roll-up network ZKSync has announced that a cooperating hacker has returned the stolen $5 million in accordance with the specified timeframe and the incident is now considered resolved.

The joint statement by the protocol’s founders and core team members, known as the Security Council, originally announced a 72-hour “safe harbor” window, which began on April 15.

The goal was to resolve the situation without resorting to legal channels, and it involved a 10% bounty if the attacker returned 90% of the stolen funds by a set deadline.

The proposal outlined specific wallet addresses for returning the ZK and Ethereum (ETH) tokens via both the ZKSync Era network and Ethereum mainnet. The agreement was dependent on full repayment by a set deadline.

After the time passed, ZKSync has now confirmed that the stolen assets were recovered successfully and no further action will be taken against the individual responsible.

The firm expressed its gratitude for the assistance , writing, “Thank you to @_SEAL_Org, @PatrickAlphaC, @pcaversaccio, @_hrkrshnn , ZKsync Security Council and ZKsync Guardians for their support.”

The announcement follows after a security breach led to the creation of approximately 111 million ZK tokens, worth around $5 million at the time, due to a compromised admin key.

The hackers particularly targeted ZKSync’s airdrop distribution contracts, and left the main protocol, governance systems, and the ZK token contract unaffected.

The attacker managed to evade standard token allocation procedures and claimed tokens left unclaimed from the project’s initial distribution round.

Blockchain records has revealed that nearly $3.5 million of the stolen tokens were converted to ETH.

ZKSync reassured users that no customer assets or core infrastructure were impacted by the incident.