Ethereum’s Layer-2 scaling solution, zkSync, has faced criticism from the crypto community following its recent announcement of the ZK token airdrop. Community members have raised concerns about the lack of anti-Sybil filtering and what they perceive as an unfair distribution of tokens.

According to the announcement made by zkSync, 17.5% of the total 21 billion ZK token supply will be distributed through an airdrop to 695,000 eligible wallets on June 17. Another 33.3% of the tokens will be allocated to the project’s team and investors as a reward for early users and longstanding supporters.

However, the distribution plan has sparked backlash as eligible users reported discrepancies in token allocations. Some long-term active users received fewer tokens compared to wallets with less activity that managed to secure larger allocations. Moreover, top-ranking projects built on zkSync, such as NFT platforms zkApes and Element, voiced disappointment for not being included in the airdrop despite their significant contributions to the network.

Critics have pointed out the absence of effective anti-Sybil measures in the airdrop process. Mudit Gupta, Chief Information Security Officer at Polygon Labs, described the situation as highly susceptible to farming, where participants could exploit the criteria to maximize token gains. Adam Cochran from Cinneamhain Ventures also criticized the airdrop for its vulnerability to manipulation.

Despite initial speculation, crypto analytics firm Nansen clarified it was not involved in advising zkSync on the airdrop criteria or conducting anti-Sybil checks. The decision not to implement such filters was defended by zkSync as an effort to prioritize genuine users over automated systems.

Overall, the controversy surrounding zkSync’s ZK token airdrop underscores ongoing concerns within the crypto community regarding transparency and fairness in token distribution mechanisms.