OrdiZK (OZK) cross-chain bridging protocol allegedly exits with $1.4 million in cryptocurrency, causing token price to plummet by 98%.
A new report has surfaced indicating that the team responsible for the cross-chain bridging protocol OrdiZK (OZK) has purportedly executed an exit scam, absconding with an estimated $1.4 million worth of investors’ cryptocurrency, as per findings from blockchain security platform CertiK.
CertiK's investigation reveals that on March 4, the deployer account of the protocol allegedly offloaded 489 million OZK tokens on a decentralized exchange, resulting in a transaction worth $132,000. This sudden sell-off triggered a drastic 98% drop in the token's value. Subsequently, on March 5, an additional roughly $214,000 worth of OZK was sold, causing an additional 99% decrease in value.
Blockchain data confirms that on March 4, the OZK deployer executed the “execute” function on Uniswap’s Universal Router contract, exchanging approximately 489 million OZK tokens for 35.65 Ether (ETH). Furthermore, on March 5, an additional 121 million OZK tokens were exchanged through the same function, resulting in an additional 0.93 ETH transferred from Uniswap’s OZK/ETH liquidity pool to the deployer account.
In addition to these transactions, the deployer also withdrew 57.68 ETH (equivalent to approximately $197,000 at current market prices) from the OZKStake contract by invoking the “emergencyWithdraw” function. CertiK also reports that the project held $263,000 in a “marketing wallet” and $174,000 in a “treasury wallet,” suggesting that the project had accumulated over $1.4 million across these three wallets before initiating its alleged exit scam.
Notably, the project's X account, along with its Telegram group and related documents, have been deleted.
Despite being only two months into 2024, cryptocurrency scammers and hackers have already managed to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims. According to reports from blockchain security firm Immunefi, losses from such incidents have surpassed $200 million this year alone. One notable incident occurred on Feb. 26, when gambling protocol RiskOnBlast executed the first rug pull on the new Blast network, making away with $1 million of investors’ funds.