Early on May 13, the official X accounts of Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync and its developer Matter Labs were compromised in a phishing attack that spread misinformation about U.S. regulatory investigations.
The incident sparked alarm in the crypto community, as hackers used the hijacked accounts to publish fake statements suggesting ZKsync was under scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and facing possible sanctions from the Treasury Department.
The fraudulent posts included links to a bogus airdrop to lure unsuspecting users into a phishing trap. Shortly after, a ZKsync-affiliated account confirmed the breach and warned followers not to engage with the malicious content. Matter Labs’ head of communications, Lynnette Nolan, clarified that the posts were fake and that both X accounts are now “fully back in the control of the team.”
Crypto startup g8keep co-founder Harrison Leggio, known online as “Pop Punk,” commented on the incident in a post on X, saying, “Instead of dropping a token and stealing a few bucks, they decided to scare the living shit out of onchain degens.”
The hackers’ tactic appeared aimed at manipulating market sentiment. ZKsync’s native token, ZK, saw a brief 2% price dip following the fake investigation claims, according to CoinGecko. At the time of the breach, the token was trading at $0.07282.
Matter Labs suspects the attackers gained access through compromised delegated accounts—third-party accounts with posting privileges on behalf of the main X account. The company is actively investigating the breach.
This marks the second major security incident tied to ZKsync in recent weeks. On April 15, an attacker exploited the admin privileges of the project’s airdrop distribution contract to mint 111 million unclaimed ZK tokens, valued at roughly $5 million. The attacker eventually returned 90% of the stolen tokens, keeping the remaining 10% as a “bounty.”
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