Matter Labs, the team behind Ethereum Layer 2 service ZKsync, has announced a community airdrop of their new ZK tokens starting next week. A total of 3.675 billion tokens, which represent 17.5% of the total supply, will be distributed to approximately 695,232 eligible wallets. This makes it the most extensive token distribution from a Layer 2 network to date.

The airdrop will be divided between users and contributors, with 89% going to users who met transactional activity thresholds by March 24, and 11% to contributors who have actively participated in the development of ZKsync. The tokens will be immediately unlocked and transferable, with no vesting period required.

In a significant move, 66% of the total ZK tokens have been allocated to the community, while only 33% is allocated to investors and teams. The ZKsync Association explained this decision as a commitment to empowering the community to direct protocol governance upgrades. The distribution of team tokens will commence in June 2025 and continue over a four-year vesting period until 2028.

Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski emphasized that the airdrop aims to reward real people with genuine on-chain activity, while filtering out bots and sybil wallets. He also stated that token holders are free to dispose of their tokens if they do not wish to participate in governance.