ZKJ and KOGE crashed over 80% amid Binance Alpha’s airdrop frenzy, exposing liquidity risks and investor overreliance on high-volume pairs.
Whale exits and token unlocks triggered panic selling, drying up liquidity pools and revealing flaws in point farming incentives and platform safeguards.
The crash shook BSC DeFi, prompting calls for better liquidity management, on-chain monitoring, and more rational airdrop strategies across the ecosystem.
Lessons from the Crash of ZKJ and KOGE Tokens on Binance Alpha
In mid-June 2025, two of the highest trading-volume tokens on Binance Alpha, based on Binance Smart Chain (BSC)—ZKJ from Polyhedra Network and KOGE from 48 Club DAO—experienced a sharp price crash.
ZKJ fell from $2 to $0.38, a drop of 81%, while KOGE plummeted from $60 to $8, a drop of 86.7%.
Although the prices of both tokens slightly recovered afterwards, the crisis caused significant losses for many investors and raised widespread concerns about the mechanism of Binance Alpha, DeFi liquidity management, and potential market manipulation.
Of particular note is that Binance Alpha’s airdrop qualification required users to accumulate points through trading. As the highest volume tokens, ZKJ and KOGE became the preferred tools for many investors to earn points.
The crash dealt a particularly heavy blow to those relying on these tokens for “point farming,” exposing a contradiction between the platform’s incentive mechanism and the risk of trading such pairs.
THE AIRDROP BOOM ON BINANCE ALPHA
Binance Alpha is a DeFi trading platform based on BSC. Thanks to its low trading fees and high-performance blockchain infrastructure, it rapidly rose since 2024 to become one of the largest DeFi platforms on BSC.
On June 8, the platform’s daily trading volume reached $2.04 billion, attracting a large number of retail and speculative investors.
Its core appeal lies in the airdrop incentive mechanism: users must trade on the platform to accumulate Alpha Points to qualify for airdrops. The point threshold is high, and points are earned based directly on trading volume.
This made the most actively traded token pairs popular choices for point farming, and ZKJ and KOGE became star assets under this mechanism.
ZKJ is the native token of Polyhedra Network, a project focused on zero-knowledge proofs (zkML) and decentralized artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to provide privacy computing solutions for Web3. The ZKJ/KOGE trading pair had long dominated the platform’s trading volume.
KOGE belongs to 48 Club DAO, a decentralized organization centered on community governance, dedicated to developing DeFi and NFT ecosystems. Its token was actively traded through ZKJ/KOGE and KOGE/USDT pairs.
Because these two tokens had overwhelming trading volume, many investors regarded them as efficient point farming tools. Large amounts of capital poured in, driving token prices and trading activity higher.
However, this airdrop-driven trading frenzy artificially amplified market risks and laid the groundwork for the ensuing liquidity crisis and price collapse.
The broader crypto market in the first half of 2025 also provided important context. Bitcoin was fluctuating around $105,000, Ethereum performed strongly due to ETF hype, and the DeFi sector attracted significant speculative capital due to technical innovation.
Binance Alpha became a hotspot for small projects and retail investors, but the lure of high returns often comes with high risk. The crash of ZKJ and KOGE is a reflection of this market environment.
DEEP CAUSES OF THE CRASH: RESONANCE OF AIRDROP INCENTIVES AND MULTIPLE RISKS
Airdrop Mechanism as an Indirect Driver of the Crash
To obtain airdrop eligibility, users had to frequently trade to accumulate points, and point acquisition was directly tied to trading volume. The ZKJ/KOGE trading pair, due to its high trading volume and good liquidity, became the preferred tool for point farming.
Many retail investors poured in large amounts of capital, and even borrowed funds for high-frequency trading, in order to quickly meet the point threshold.
This speculative behavior artificially pushed up the trading volume and prices of ZKJ and KOGE, with ZKJ reaching $2 and KOGE reaching $60, forming an illusion of prosperity.
However, such airdrop-driven trading models are extremely vulnerable to liquidity shocks. Once market conditions shift, investors become the most direct victims.
Liquidity Crisis as the Direct Trigger
On June 15, on-chain data showed that the ZKJ/KOGE liquidity pool experienced massive fund withdrawals.
Multiple whale addresses, including wallets starting with “0x1A29” and “0x0781”, withdrew millions of dollars worth of ZKJ and KOGE in a short period, leading to a sharp drop in liquidity depth.
ZKJ’s price dropped from $2 to $0.38, and KOGE from $60 to $8. Transaction slippage surged, trading became extremely difficult for regular investors, and panic selling was triggered.
More seriously, the KOGE/USDT liquidity pool nearly dried up, leaving investors unable to directly exchange KOGE for stablecoins. They had to use ZKJ as an intermediary, further increasing ZKJ’s sell pressure.
Many investors pointed out that these withdrawals appeared to be organized, involving coordinated actions by multiple related addresses, showing a high level of planning.
For users relying on ZKJ and KOGE for point farming, the liquidity crisis not only caused price collapses but also left them with assets they could barely exit—resulting in severe losses.
Token Unlocking Pressure Increased Market Anxiety
Polyhedra Network planned to unlock around $32 million worth of ZKJ in June, accounting for 5.3% of the total supply.
This news had already caused concern before the crash, as investors feared that newly released tokens might be sold by early investors or the team, putting pressure on the price.
Source：Tokenomist
Although the Polyhedra team claimed that the unlocked tokens would be used for ecosystem incentives, the lack of a detailed allocation plan and transparent disclosure failed to calm market fears.
In contrast, KOGE had a more aggressive tokenomics model. The 48 Club team publicly stated that KOGE was fully unlocked from launch and had never promised not to sell.
This “fully free” design attracted speculative funds in a bull market, but during market fluctuations, it easily triggered a trust crisis and became a catalyst for the price collapse.
Suspicion of Market Manipulation
Suspicion of market manipulation added another layer to the incident. Several analysts pointed out that the high trading volume of ZKJ and KOGE may have partly come from wash trading.
The ZKJ/KOGE pair once had daily volume in the hundreds of millions of dollars, yet on-chain active address counts were low, suggesting that a few large players may have artificially inflated trading volume.
Some addresses repeatedly bought and sold the tokens at high prices, pushing up volume and liquidity, attracting retail investors, and then profiting from withdrawals.
This kind of pre-meditated harvesting behavior made investors who relied on these tokens for point farming the biggest victims.
As a decentralized exchange, Binance Alpha lacks the oversight mechanisms of centralized platforms, making such manipulation harder to detect and stop.
MARKET IMPACT: AIRDROP PARTICIPANTS CRUSHED AND ECOSYSTEM SHAKEN
Airdrop Traders Were Hit the Hardest
The crash of ZKJ and KOGE had a deep impact on the Binance Alpha platform and the BSC DeFi ecosystem—especially on users farming points through these tokens.
Because point accumulation was tied to trading volume, many retail users invested heavily in high-frequency trades, even borrowing funds to trade. They hoped to quickly collect points through ZKJ and KOGE.
However, as ZKJ fell from $2 to $0.38 and KOGE from $60 to $8, their assets shrank drastically. Some users couldn’t exit due to dried-up liquidity, resulting in nearly total losses.
On X (formerly Twitter), the community reacted strongly to the crash. Many blamed the platform’s incentive design, saying the illusion of prosperity in high-volume tokens misled their decisions.
They not only lost the funds invested in chasing the airdrop but also missed out on other investment opportunities, bearing both financial and psychological stress. Even with later price rebounds, investor confidence was deeply shaken and hard to recover in the short term.
Platform Trading Volume Plummeted
The ZKJ/KOGE pair was a core pillar of Binance Alpha’s trading activity. The liquidity crisis directly led to a drop in platform-wide trading volume. On June 15, daily volume fell to $987 million, more than 50% lower than the $2.04 billion on June 8.
Fear spread to other trading pairs, accelerating capital flight.
The platform’s reputation suffered. Many users questioned whether project screening was sufficient, and whether risk warnings on high-volume tokens were clearly communicated.
This trust crisis could lead to user loss and impact the platform’s long-term growth.
DeFi Ecosystem on BSC Suffered Spillover Effects
The crash also had a ripple effect on the broader BSC DeFi ecosystem. Other small- and mid-sized tokens saw varying degrees of decline, reflecting market risk-aversion.
Liquidity providers faced higher hedging costs, and some users began moving funds to Ethereum Layer 2 or Arbitrum, which were considered safer.
This capital outflow could weaken BSC’s competitiveness and push projects and platforms to re-examine their risk management strategies.
INSIGHTS AND REFLECTIONS: FROM AIRDROP FRENZY TO RATIONAL RETURN
Airdrop Incentives Are a Double-Edged Sword
Binance Alpha’s point system boosted platform activity but also encouraged speculation and high-risk investing.
Many users, chasing airdrop rewards, ignored ZKJ and KOGE’s fundamentals and market risks, focusing solely on their trading volume.
This “volume farming” behavior inflated token price bubbles. As ZKJ dropped from $2 to $0.38 and KOGE from $60 to $8, countless retail investors were wiped out.
Investors must learn that the cost of earning airdrops can far exceed the actual reward. Before participating, they should evaluate the project’s long-term value, tokenomics, and liquidity risks—not just blindly chase trading volume.
Future airdrop participants should clearly understand the cost and potential return of point farming, and adopt risk-controlled trading strategies.
High Volume ≠ High Quality or Safety
ZKJ and KOGE’s high volume was once seen as a sign of popularity, but on-chain data suggests wash trading and manipulation.
This false prosperity misled investors, especially retail traders farming points, resulting in massive losses during the crash.
In the future, investors should pay closer attention to on-chain data, use tools like Dune Analytics and BSCScan to track active wallet counts, liquidity depth, and whale behavior, and identify whether volume is real or fake.
They should prioritize projects with clear lock-up mechanisms, transparent unlocking plans, and well-defined roadmaps—and avoid being misled by surface-level high volume. Even with rebounds in ZKJ and KOGE, investors must remain cautious and evaluate the sustainability of the recovery.
Liquidity Management Is the Lifeline of DeFi Projects
The crash revealed how fragile liquidity pools are when overly reliant on a few whales.
Once these whales exit, liquidity dries up, prices collapse, and investors are trapped.
Project teams must improve liquidity management, using dynamic incentives to attract more decentralized liquidity providers and reduce dependency on a single source.
Platforms like Binance Alpha should introduce on-chain monitoring tools to detect abnormal trading behavior in real time and provide risk alerts for high-risk pairs to protect retail users.
Airdrop mechanisms should also be improved—offering diversified ways to earn points (e.g., staking or task-based systems) to reduce reliance on high-volume tokens and limit speculation-driven risks.
LOOKING AHEAD: FROM CRISIS TO REFORM
The collapse of ZKJ and KOGE is a wake-up call for the DeFi world and offers valuable lessons.
For investors, rationality and caution are essential for surviving market volatility. In the future, they should focus more on fundamental analysis, avoid excessive concentration in single tokens, and track on-chain activity to avoid similar traps.
For airdrop participants, the cost-benefit ratio must be fully assessed before engaging. Blindly chasing high-volume pairs like ZKJ and KOGE—even if prices rebound—requires extra caution.
For platforms and ecosystems, this crisis is a chance to improve system design, monitoring tools, user education, and liquidity structure—paving the way for a more stable and resilient DeFi future.
〈Lessons from the Crash of ZKJ and KOGE Tokens on Binance Alpha〉這篇文章最早發佈於《CoinRank》。
