The team behind the L2 protocol zkLend, built on Starknet, has announced its closure. The decision follows a hack and the delisting of the LEND token from major exchanges.
Dear zkLend Community,
It is with a heavy heart that we announce our decision to wind down zkLend.
This decision was not made lightly. Over recent months, the exploit we suffered has deeply eroded user confidence, and furthermore, the recent removal of ZEND from major exchanges…
— zkLend (@zkLend) June 25, 2025
In February, the project faced a cyberattack, resulting in the loss of approximately 3666 ETH ($9.6 million at the time of the incident). The team offered the hacker a 10% reward for returning the assets, but the perpetrator reported losing 2930 ETH on a phishing site.
“Such developments significantly limit our ability to effectively allocate funds to any new initiatives,” the statement said.
The project is using the remaining treasury funds ($200,000) to support affected users who have not yet received compensation. In total, $400,000 has been allocated for this purpose.
Representatives of zkLend considered this step “a more responsible and meaningful use of resources than relaunching money markets and continuing development.”
The protocol team will keep the compensation portal, The DeFi Spring service, and the kSTRK staking platform active for asset withdrawal.
The project also continues its collaboration with zeroShadow, who assist in tracking and recovering stolen funds. Any potentially recovered coins will be directed to the recovery fund.
For interested third-party teams, zkLend has opened the protocol’s source code, updated after the attack.
Earlier in May, DeFi platform Alpaca Finance, once a leader in the BNB Chain ecosystem, announced a complete shutdown by December 2025.