ZKX founder Eduard responds to shutdown concerns: $7.6 million funding raised for 2021 to 2024 has been used for various expenses

ChainCatcher news, regarding "why $7.6 million was raised, and TGE just started a few weeks ago, ZKX announced it would cease operations," ZKX founder Eduard responded, stating that the $7.6 million funding was raised from 2021 to 2024 to support a 30-person team developing a dedicated blockchain to scale perpetual contracts. Eduard mentioned that this funding covers multiple code audits with Nethermind, TGE listing fees, AWS cloud service expenses (high L3 costs), and developer promotion activities for Cairo programming.

He emphasized that all user funds have been fully returned, over 80% of users have withdrawn from the protocol, and the main wallet is self-custodied. The core founders did not sell any tokens, but four years of effort and life achievements have gone to waste. Additionally, Eduard noted that the DeFi team faced immense community pressure, vulnerabilities, scams, and hacking attacks. He stated that the team did its best to protect customer funds, and Binance is aware of the identities of some attackers. Finally, he reflected that choosing a full-chain smart contract protocol instead of L3 and other strategic decisions might have been financially wiser, and expressed that the team has learned lessons from this painful experience.

Earlier, ChainCatcher reported that the Starknet ecosystem DEX ZKX would cease operations and advised users to withdraw funds before September.