Matter Labs, the company behind ZKsync era, has revealed the distribution plan for its ZK token airdrop. This airdrop will see 17.5% of the total 21 billion ZK tokens being distributed to users starting next week. ZKsync Era is a layer-2 network that offers fast and cheap Ethereum transactions. The airdrop will distribute nearly 3.7 billion tokens to users, making it the largest distribution of tokens among major layer-2 networks.
The pre-market prices estimate the airdrop’s fully diluted value to be over $2.5 billion, which is almost three times ZKsync Era’s current total value locked of $815 million. The distribution plan allocates 89% of the airdrop to ZKsync users who have met certain activity thresholds, while the remaining 11% goes to ecosystem contributors, including zkSync native projects, on-chain communities, and builders.
There has been controversy surrounding Matter Labs’ decision to trademark the term “ZK,” which led to backlash from the crypto community. The company later withdrew the trademark application, citing the need to protect users from similarly-named projects. The airdrop will cap the amount that any address can receive at 100,000 tokens to prevent large holders from dominating the distribution.
Matter Labs employees will receive 16.1% of ZK tokens, with investors getting 17.2%, both of which will be locked for a year before being slowly unlocked over the following three years. The remaining token supply will be allocated to ZKsync’s new governance plans and various Ecosystem Initiatives. The goal of distributing more tokens in the airdrop than to the team and investors is to empower the community to direct protocol governance upgrades when ZKsync’s governance system is launched.
The airdrop distribution plan was carefully designed to prioritize the community heavily, with certain jurisdictions excluded due to legal restrictions or compliance requirements. The team behind Matter Labs acknowledge that some users may be disappointed with the allocations but have considered other airdrop models in the industry. The drama surrounding the trademarking of the term “ZK” has caused tensions with competitors like Polygon and Starkware, leading Matter Labs to ultimately withdraw their trademark application to address community concerns.
Overall, the ZK token airdrop will be a significant event in the crypto space, offering users a chance to participate in the governance of ZKsync Era. With a focus on community empowerment and fair distribution, Matter Labs aims to ensure that the airdrop benefits a wide range of users and ecosystem contributors. As the layer-2 network landscape continues to evolve, the success of ZKsync Era and its governance model will be closely watched by the blockchain community.
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