The house of cards of ZKasino collapses: 27 million dollars of the developer liquidated

The scandal related to ZKasino, a blockchain-based gambling platform, continues to widen with new revelations that leave little room for doubt about the alleged frode.

The case has already attracted the attention of the international crypto community, and now it is enriched with a new chapter: the founder, Derivatives Monke, reportedly underwent the forced liquidation of funds worth approximately 27 million dollars.

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Summary

• Fraud and liquidation of ZKasino: the two faces of a debacle
• The spiral of suspicion: komunitas and violated transparency
• The future of scammed investors: hopes and unknowns

Fraud and liquidation of ZKasino: the two faces of a debacle

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The drama began with the automatic migration of funds by ZKasino. In total, over 33,000 ETH, deposited by investors confident in a staking bridge, were moved without notice to Lido, a popular decentralized staking protocol.

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This move violated the team’s previous communications, which had promised the return of the cryptocurrencies at the conclusion of the process.

Instead of reimbursing users, ZKasino converted the Ether deposited into an equivalent amount of ZKAS tokens, retaining control of the assets. The justification? An alleged change in internal strategy. The reality, however, seems to reveal an organized fraud.

At the peak of the affair, Derivatives Monke had publicly boasted of having accumulated over 27 million dollars in capital on lending platforms DeFi, exploiting his position and the misappropriated funds.

But the risky game with highly volatile assets had a predictable outcome: at the end of April, the position was completely liquidated, according to data from the Arkham Intelligence platform.

In particular, the loans were guaranteed by gDAI, a synthetic token linked to DAI, but the instability and leverage effect led to the collapse of the entire scheme.

This liquidation resulted in the almost total loss of the accumulated capital, an amount equal to $27 million vanished into thin air, with no benefit for the creditors or for the defrauded investors.

On April 29, the Dutch police announced the arrest of a thirty-three-year-old citizen directly linked to the ZKasino scandal. Although the name has not been disclosed, the evidence clearly points towards Derivatives Monke.

In addition to the arrest, law enforcement seized “luxury goods,” including a car, as well as 11.4 million euros frozen between cryptocurrencies and bank accounts.

The investigations, initiated by Dutch authorities in collaboration with the FBI and other international agencies, are still ongoing to determine the full extent of the damage and identify any accomplices.

The preliminary charges include fraud, appropriazione indebita, and riciclaggio di denaro.

The spiral of suspicion: komunitas and violated transparency

One of the most dramatic aspects of the situation concerns the erosion of trust between ZKasino and its community.

In the days following the forced “migration,” hundreds of users expressed frustration and anger on social media, accusing the developer and the team of deliberately deceiving those who had supported the project during the initial phase.

ZKasino had gained ground as a promising platform, making extensive use of the typical language of zk-rollups, cryptographic solutions designed to offer greater reliability and scalability on the blockchain.

But the incorrect use of these tools and the confusion created by the deceptive narrative of the team have contributed to building a well-disguised trap, now widely considered a true exit scam.

This episode raises crucial questions about governance in crypto projects and the need for stronger regulatory frameworks.

The ZKasino case highlights how deceptive the allure of decentralizzazione can be when used as a shield for opaque practices.

The total lack of transparency in the management of the funds and the absence of external audits allowed the platform to operate for months undisturbed, despite the significant movement of resources in the background.

Only the intervention of the authorities and public pressure have allowed the scheme to be exposed.

The future of scammed investors: hopes and unknowns

For the thousands of users who have deposited their ETH convinced they were participating in an innovative project, the bitter reality remains. That is, the funds, for the most part, have not been recovered.

The possible restitution will depend on the judicial investigations and the seized funds. In the best case scenario, a long and complex process is expected, with outcomes still uncertain.

In the meantime, requests for greater oversight on public funding activities in crypto projects are multiplying. Especially those that promise high returns without clear rules.

The ZKasino case adds to the already long list of crypto scandals of recent years. However, what makes it particularly emblematic is the speed with which a project, initially well-received, turned into a large-scale scam.

The loss of 27 million dollars is not only a personal defeat for the founder, but a severe blow to the credibility of the entire DeFi ecosystem. In a sector that demands trust as its primary currency, the damage to the image is perhaps even more significant than the economic losses.

The future of finanza decentralizzata necessarily involves more responsibility and control tools.

Until then, the ZKasino case will remain a warning for investors and developers. In a world without rules, transparency is not optional, but a vital necessity.

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