by Chris Lion 
The recent transfer of 6,021 wstETH back equates to approximately two-thirds of the missing amount in the exit scam.
ZKasino, the decentralized casino platform, has seen over $20 million worth of bridged Ether returned to its multisig wallet almost three weeks after users accused platform founders of an exit scam.
On May 9, an X account ($JAIL) dedicated to recovering funds from the ZKasino exit scam revealed that nearly $21 million worth of wrapped Lido staking ETH (wstETH) had been returned to the project’s multi-signature wallet. The development gave investors hope that they might soon receive their funds back as initially promised.
UPDATE! 2/3 of the Zkasino $ZKAS bridged eth are now back on the multi-sig wallet!https://t.co/rIYEHOL7my
Could they be preparing to refund the victims ?? pic.twitter.com/oNT39faXvT
— $JAIL (@jail_monke) May 9, 2024
The saga started when Zkasino, like many other DeFi platforms, faced a critical vulnerability in its smart contract, which resulted in the loss of funds in millions of dollars.
“One of the three scammers just sent the funds back to the original multi-sig wallet address,” $JAIL stated, offering Etherscan evidence of the transfers.
ZKasino Airdrop Launch
ZKasino launched on April 20, presenting an airdrop in its native token, ZKAS, to those who bridged ETH to the platform and pledged to refund it.
However, the gambling project redirected approximately $33 million worth of users’ bridged Ethereum to the staking protocol Lido Finance rather than fulfilling the original promise of returning the funds to users.
The incident resulted in accusations of an exit scam, as over 10,000 individuals had bridged assets based on promises made by the protocol, which they alleged were subsequently violated.
Suspect Arrested for Alleged ZKasino Scam
On April 29, Dutch authorities arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of involvement in the alleged ZKasino scam. At the time, authorities seized approximately $12.2 million worth of digital assets, real estate, and luxury cars from the suspect.
Some users speculated in the crypto community that the arrested suspect might be the project founder known under the pseudonym “Derivatives Monke,” identified as Elham Nourzai by blockchain investigators.
Meanwhile, Binance helped by freezing millions of dollars worth of stolen crypto after authorities obtained a seizure warrant against the attacker’s accounts.
Despite the arrest, unauthorized funds are still flowing, showing that other potential attackers may still be around the corner. However, the recent movement of funds back to the project’s mutisig wallet has returned hope for the victims involved.
Lastly, according to figures from on-chain intelligence firm CertiK, in April, $25.7 million worth of crypto was lost to scams and hacks, with the ZKasino incident excluded.
