ZKSync, an Ethereum Layer 2 network crafted by Matter Labs, is gearing up for its much-anticipated ZK token giveaway. As per the distribution plan unveiled on Tuesday, a whopping 17.5% of the total 21 billion ZK token supply will be distributed to users via airdrops commencing next week.

This airdrop is poised to be the largest token allocation among major Layer 2 networks, with nearly 3.7 billion tokens set aside for users. Based on pre-market valuations from perpetuals exchange Aevo, ZK is priced at $0.66, elevating the airdrop’s fully diluted value (FDV) to over $2.5 billion. On PancakeSwap, the token averages around $0.7. To provide context, this latest airdrop valuation is approximately three times the total value locked in the ZKSync Era, with the current market capitalization estimated at roughly $14.9 billion.

The project has dedicated two-thirds of the ZK token supply to its community, with the bulk (89%) of the airdropped tokens designated for users who engaged with the ZKSync Era or ZKSync Lite networks before the March 24 snapshot date. The remaining 11% will be dispersed among native projects and communities.

To safeguard against Sybil attacks, ZKSync has established seven eligibility criteria, including interacting with ten smart contracts, trading ten ERC-20 tokens, or providing liquidity to a DeFi protocol. The airdrop per wallet is capped at 100,000 tokens. According to a press release from ZKSync, token holders can promptly engage in the protocol’s governance once they claim their tokens.

ZKSync asserts that allocating more tokens to the community via the airdrop than to the Matter Labs team and investors is more than a symbolic gesture. According to a ZKNation blog post, a wallet’s on-chain activity reveals valuable insights into its owner's behavior, distinguishing genuine community members from bots and opportunists.

Additionally, less than 0.5% of the total supply will be airdropped to various NFT and token communities, including Crypto: The Game players, Pudgy Penguins and Milady Maker NFT holders, and DEGEN and BONSAI airdrop recipients.

The remaining one-third of the ZK token supply will be almost equally divided between investors and the ZKSync development team, Matter Labs, with tokens vesting over a three-year period from June 2025 to 2028. Recently, Matter Labs faced criticism for attempting to trademark "zero knowledge," a move it subsequently retracted. The protocol developer also introduced ZKNation, its new decentralized governance system, in a recent development.