Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync announced on Tuesday (11th) details of the distribution and airdrop of its protocol token, ZK. 17.5% of the total token supply will be airdropped to early users and adopters of ZKsync next week.
According to the announcement by ZK Nation, the total supply of ZK tokens is 21 billion, with 3.675 billion being distributed through a “one-time airdrop” to 695,232 eligible wallets. ZKsync stated that eligibility and distribution of the airdrop are based on snapshots of ZKsync Era and ZKsync Lite activities taken at 8:00 on March 24, 2024, Taipei time, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the ZKsync Era mainnet launch.
ZKsync community members can check their eligibility on the official redemption page and start claiming tokens from next week (deadline January 3, 2025). Eligible GitHub developers and ZKsync GitHub Discussion Helpers must link their wallet addresses to their accounts before 0:00 Central European Summer Time on June 25 in order to claim tokens. External projects, Protocol Guild, and ZKsync native project contributors will be able to start claiming from June 24.
Token distribution
According to the announcement, 66.7% of the total supply of ZK tokens is allocated to the community, with the remaining 49.17% of token supply, in addition to the 17.5% used for airdrops, distributed through ecosystem projects.
Furthermore, 33.3% of the total supply of ZK tokens will be allocated to investors (17.2%) and the Matter Labs team (16.1%), with these tokens being locked for the first year and then unlocked over three years (June 2025 to June 2028).
It is worth noting that the airdropped tokens will have no vesting or lock-up period and will have “full liquidity from day one.” When asked if this would lead to selling pressure, Matter Labs founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski told The Block: “People can freely dispose of their tokens.”
Gluchowski described this as a community governance airdrop, stating, “So we hope that most recipients will participate in governance, delegate their tokens, and become active members of the community,” or let the tokens fall into the hands of those who truly care about the protocol.
Gluchowski emphasized that two-thirds of the distribution will flow to the community, rather than the team and investors, to argue that “the community is everything” for ZKsync.