ZKasino Gives Users 72 Hours To Claim Their ETH After Rug-Pulling Them

Weeks after crypto gambling platform ZKasino rug pulled their investors to the tune of $33 million in ETH, the team has announced they are opening a small window for investors to claim some of their funds back.

On May 28, the ZKasino team outlined the details for a 2-step bridge back process where investors can sign up and bridge back their ETH at a 1:1 ratio. However, the window is open for 72 hours.

According to ZKasino, bridgers have from May 28 10:00 EST to May 31 10:00 EST to sign up.

“The ZKasino team is still working hard to make the project successful. We again want to assure everyone that we are here to deliver and continue our best efforts,” read a medium post published today by the team.

Trust Us, Bro

However, given ZKasino’s track record with user funds–the project swapped without consent all their user’s funds into ZKasino’s native token ZKAS and later sent those funds to Lido for staking–the wording in the article is somewhat unsettling.

The team explained that bridgers can find their ZKAS on the ZKasino EVM Chain and can deposit the ZKAS back into a smart contract controlled by ZKasino.

Sending funds to a smart contract controlled by a project that already rug pulled their users might be a foolish move–even if it is the only recourse currently available.

Extreme Caution

However, some are weighing the risk.

An administrator that goes by the name of Dennis in the Telegram group ZKasino Legal Task Force, which surfaced as the platform shutdown, wrote “the contract looks like open source, I count at least 6 devs now who have had a look and say it is fine.”

Dennis added, “But always be careful - remove any valuable assets from your wallet before interaction and transfer them to a new private key is what you should probably do.”

Verification Period

Once users have signed up and the 72 hour window has closed, a period of verification will ensue, and a claim portal will open. No official date has been publicized as to when the period and the subsequent claim portal will be open.

As of writing, roughly 4,143 transactions have taken place, and the smart contract showcases a balance of 19.8 million ZKAS.

The buyback bridge move comes weeks after a ZKasino team member was arrested by Dutch authorities under allegations of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering on May 3.

Dutch authorities said they had apprehended a 26-year old man, and seized more than $11 million in assets, including a luxury car, real estate, and cryptocurrencies.