Binance to list ZKsync with distribution program in response to community backlash

Binance announced today the listing of ZKsync (ZK) trading pairs and a token distribution program, the latter of which is aimed at addressing concerns from the community.

Starting from 8 a.m. on Monday UTC, ZK will be available for spot trading, paired with BTC, USDT, FDUSD and the Turkish Lira, and Binance users are now able to deposit ZK in preparation, the exchange said in the announcement. The exchange added that withdrawals will be available a day after the listing. The listing is scheduled to come an hour after the actual ZKsync airdrop claims start.

In addition to the ZK trading pair listing, Binance announced a token giveaway program in consideration of the community criticism surrounding the ZK airdrop. It plans to distribute 10.5 million ZK tokens to an estimated 52,500 users.

To be eligible for the Binance ZK token distribution program, users must have initiated at least 50 ZKsync Era transactions between February 2023 and March 2024. However, these transactions must be spread across at least seven different months within that time frame. Additionally, users must not have claimed any ZK tokens through the official ZK Nation airdrop program.

Eligible addresses will be distributed ZK on a first-come, first-served basis, and the first token airdrop is planned for June 25, Binance said. 

Community concerns

The exchange acknowledged in the announcement that there are “ongoing concerns” from the community surrounding ZK token distribution, which was first announced by the ZKsync Association last week. The community reaction to the ZK listing was divided across social media platforms, with some calling the ZKsync project a “scam.”

The criticism appears to stem from the airdrop program’s lack of measures to filter out Sybil attacks, where people create a large number of fake accounts to acquire more tokens while farming the airdrop tokens. 

“Most farmable and farmed airdrop ever probably — almost no sybil filtering as far as I can see,” Mudit Gupta, chief information security officer of Polygon, wrote on X on the day of ZKsync Association’s announcement. 

In response to the backlash, ZK team wrote on X last week that it recognized that the plan upset the community, but said that the team will stand by the path it has chosen. It offered a set of FAQs, noting that it did not identify any major issues with the airdrop.