zkSync’s ‘Elegant’ Way to rescue $1.7M Worth ETH Stuck in Smart Contract

• ZkSync will release the 921 trapped ETH.
• Before being deployed, smart contracts had never been tested.

A startup using the layer-2 protocol zkSync that raised 921 ETH in an IDO (initial DEX offering) is having problems getting access to its funds.

zkSync Looks Into The Problem

Ethereum valued at $1.7 million seems to have been “stuck” in a smart contract. The money is for the environmental initiative Gemholic, which requested help from zkSync.

The transfer function was incompatible, therefore Gemholic was unable to withdraw its Ethereum. On April 7, zkSync offered to help in locate the project’s locked assets.

The company asserts that the funds are “safe” and that an “elegant” solution has been discovered to save the assets.

Matter Labs stated in its most recent tweet that it has discovered an “elegant solution” to “unfreeze” the GemstoneIDO contract and get the monies out after initially claiming that they wouldn’t be “stuck forever.”

The Faulty Function

The protocol is also incompatible with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), which is what led to the incompatibility.

It said that Gemholic had just launched a pre-sale on zkSync Era and implemented their token contract. The use of the .transfer() method caused a problem with their contract after deployment, it was said.

Furthermore, zkSync was used to deploy the smart contracts without previously testing them. Back in 2019, ConsenSys engineers issued a cautionary note on the use of this specific Solidity transfer function.

They fail because transfers now require more gas than the hardcoded set quantity used by the function. zkSync also issued a warning on this restriction and how it might affect smart contracts.

Matter Labs claimed that zkSync Era could execute various transaction types between 10 and 1,000 times cheaper than competing EVM rollups in order to support its design decision.

However, Matter Labs acknowledged their error and promised the zkSync ecosystem that they would work tirelessly to fix any future problems.

The researchers also examined the source code of “dozens of well-known crypto projects,” finding that every one of them conformed with the new dynamic approach.

zkSync Activity in High Demand

The amount of activity on zkSync Era has greatly increased since its inception in late March. The greatest scaling a solution has ever experienced in such a short time, according to the statement.

Since its debut two weeks ago, zkSync Era has grown to have the third-highest use and the fourth-highest TVL of all layer twos.

With a market share of 66% and TVL of $6 billion, Arbitrum One is still ahead of the competition. In contrast, zkSync’s TVL is just $149 million.

Disappointed Customers

However, a few users on the Cryptocurrency subreddit voiced their displeasure with the situation.

“I fully support the advancement of Zero Knowledge technology in the cryptocurrency industry. These chains must, however, also take into account the reality that people’s money is on the line, said another.

Last week, Matter Labs announced the mainnet debut of zkSync Era, promising that the decentralized exchanges Uniswap and SushiSwap will go online shortly after. While that hasn’t occurred yet, other projects on the network, such Argent, Celer Network, and MetaMask, are now operational.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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