ZKsync X Account Hacked, False SEC Probe Claimed

• Hackers faked an SEC probe to crash the ZK token.
• ZKsync and Matter Labs have regained control of their X accounts.
• This marks ZKsync’s second major hack since April 2025.

Hackers posted a fake announcement, falsely claiming that U.S. authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), were investigating ZKsync. The post proposed that the U.S. Treasury could sanction the Ethereum Layer 2 protocol.

This deceptive press release was meant to instill fear and uncertainty among crypto users. Through the impersonation of a regulatory crackdown, the attackers attempted to influence sentiment in the markets. What they wanted was evident: to destroy the price of the ZKsync (ZK) token. The plan bore immediate fruits. ZK dropped nearly 2% within an hour, and by day’s end, had fallen 6.4%, according to data from CoinGecko.

The timing of the attack was especially disruptive. ZK had recently enjoyed a strong 38.5% rally over the past week, making it more vulnerable to panic-selling from unsuspecting holders reacting to false news.

Confirmed Phishing Scam, Team Regains Control

After the breach, the ZKsync team put out an emergency notice advising users not to click on any links sent from the affected accounts. These links were a spoofed airdrop, intended to get users to disclose their wallet credentials, a typical phishing scam strategy.

Lynnette Nolan, Head of Communications at Matter Labs, confirmed that the malicious posts were entirely fabricated and have since been deleted. She assured the community that both X accounts are fully under the team’s control.

Crypto entrepreneur Harrison Leggio, aka “Pop Punk,” noted on X that this wasn’t a typical theft. “Instead of dropping a token and stealing a few bucks, they decided to scare the living shit out of onchain degens,” he wrote, highlighting the psychological toll of such misinformation campaigns.

Early investigations suggest the breach occurred via “compromised delegated accounts” through third-party services that were granted posting access to the official X accounts. Matter Labs is now probing how these accounts were exploited.

Second Breach in Two Months

This is not the first time ZKsync has faced a serious security lapse. On April 15, another attacker managed to exploit the admin privileges of ZKsync’s airdrop distribution contract. 

Taking advantage of a weakness, the attacker minted 111 million ZK tokens, which were not claimed, valued around $5 million then.

Unexpectedly, the attacker subsequently returned 90% of the pilfered tokens, retaining 10% as a bounty, an action that was ethically questionable but reduced financial harm. 

With two major incidents in as many months, the pressure is on ZKsync and Matter Labs to harden their security systems and rebuild user trust.

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