While other Layer-2 networks offer similarly fast and low-fee Ethereum transfers, Matter Labs calls the ZK airdrop “the largest token distribution to users among major Layer-2 networks.” Approximately 3.7 billion tokens will be allocated to the airdrop.

Preliminary market caps on crypto derivatives exchange platform Aevo currently value ZK at $0.66. In this case, the fully diluted value (FDV) of the airdrop will exceed 2.5 billion dollars. This amount is almost three times the current total locked value (TVL) of ZKsync Era.

According to the distribution plan, 89% of the airdrop will go to ZKsync users. This group includes anyone who exceeds a certain transaction threshold in ZKsync (exact threshold not specified). The remaining 11% was reserved for those who contributed to the zkSync ecosystem. This includes zkSync-specific projects (5.8%), on-chain communities (2.8%) and developers (2.4%).

News of the airdrop follows backlash from Layer-2 rivals over Matter Labs’ decision to trademark the term “ZK,” short for “zero-knowledge” cryptography that underpins ZKsync and many other blockchain projects. Following criticism from the crypto community, Matter Labs withdrew its trademark application, which it initially filed to protect users from projects with similar names.

Matter Labs announced that the amount of tokens given in the airdrop will be limited to 100,000 for any address. “The ZK airdrop fairly rewards community members who contribute to ZKsync in different ways by limiting whales,” the company said in a press release. (In crypto jargon, “whale” specifically refers to investors who trade very large amounts.)

The team also announced that Matter Labs employees will receive 16.1% of ZK tokens, while investors will receive 17.2%. These tokens will be locked for one year and then gradually unlocked over three years.

The remainder of the token supply will be allocated to ZKsync’s new “Token Assembly” (29.3%) and various Ecosystem Initiatives (19.9%) as part of new governance plans announced on Monday.

Matter Labs said in a statement shared with CoinDesk: “Distributing more tokens than were given to the Matter Labs team and investors in the airdrop is more than just a symbolic decision for the community. When the ZKsync governance system launches in the coming weeks, the community will be the biggest liquid to drive protocol governance upgrades.” will have a supply of tokens.” said.

This airdrop follows other airdrops such as StarkNet and EigenLayer, which disappointed some users who were expecting to receive more tokens. In the case of EigenLayer in particular, some users objected to the team’s decision to definitively exclude users from the US and many other countries as participants from the airdrop.

“We put a lot of thought into the airdrop design. No matter what you do, some people are going to be disappointed, but we looked at others,” Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski said in an interview with CoinDesk.

Gluchowski said “number one of the pillars” his team used in creating the distribution plan was prioritizing community.

“Some jurisdictions have been excluded from airdrops because they are banned by sanctioning regimes or because they are not welcome due to the situations that crypto projects unfortunately face when airdropping. We have to comply with these laws and respect them,” Gluchowski said in the interview. said. It did not specify which country would be authorized to purchase tokens, nor did it provide information on how ZKsync would enforce region restrictions.

News of the airdrop criteria comes after Matter Labs became embroiled in controversy with rivals Polygon and Starkware over its application to trademark the term “ZK”. Since ZK technology and the term ZK are used by many teams in the Ethereum ecosystem, the trademark application was considered by Matter Labs to be an attempt to gain ownership over the “public domain.”

“Our accusers registered ‘STARK’ as a trademark,” Gluchowski said, as if referring to Starkware. (“STARK” is a type of zero-knowledge proof created by Starkware co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson but now widely used among Ethereum Layer-2 teams.)

Gluchowski continued, “What are we talking about? Everyone is applying for trademarks for their products, tokens, or whatever.”

Gluchowski added that they still listened to the community and decided to withdraw their trademark applications. “We didn’t want to leave even the slightest impression that we were trying to manipulate the system to our advantage,” he said.