By Key Points
- ZKJ and KOGE tokens plunged over 50% on June 15 due to drained liquidity pools.
- KOGE’s USDT pool collapsed, triggering panic swaps into ZKJ.
- ZKJ couldn’t absorb the pressure, collapsing by nearly 60% in an hour.
- A looming ZKJ token unlock threatens further downside this week.
The crypto market saw another brutal downturn on June 15 as ZKJ and KOGE—two tokens with strong interdependence—collapsed in rapid succession. The ZKJ token crash erased over $360 million in value within an hour, while KOGE fell by 50%, taking out another $100 million in the process.
It all started when KOGE’s USDT liquidity pool was suddenly emptied. Without a path to cash out, holders rushed to convert their KOGE into ZKJ—one of the few trading pairs with some liquidity left.
But that backfired.
ZKJ Price Crash. Source: CoinGecko – Techtoken
ZKJ’s pool, already under stress, couldn’t handle the sudden demand. The selling pressure quickly overwhelmed the system, and ZKJ’s price spiraled downwards, leading to mass liquidations and market panic.
Community sentiment turned ugly. Social media buzzed with accusations, especially targeting the KOGE team for failing to manage its liquidity. “Rugged from both sides” became a trending phrase, highlighting the community’s frustration over being trapped in two tokens with no safe exit.
🚨 Why is $ZKJ dumping -41.1% today?
Price dropped to $1.164 with plunging volume & bearish momentum 📉🔻 Binance Alpha volumes collapsed = whales & bots dominate
🔻 $32M unlock (5.3% supply) = major dilution pressure
🔻 RSI: 23.9 (oversold) but no bullish divergence yet
🔻… pic.twitter.com/YY3hHtcYok— Mayank Dudeja (@imcryptofreak) June 15, 2025
Both ecosystems are now facing questions about their liquidity strategies and whether this crash could have been avoided with better safeguards.
Similar cases of lost funds continue to haunt the crypto space—like this recent $200K fallout tied to LastPass.
Token Unlock Could Add More Pressure to ZKJ
Unfortunately, the nightmare for ZKJ holders may not be over.
Later this week, a scheduled 5.3% token unlock is set to hit the market—worth approximately $32 million. In normal market conditions, such an unlock might be absorbed without much impact. But after a 60% price drop and plummeting confidence, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Many investors fear that the additional supply will spark more selling. With confidence already shaken, even loyal community members may choose to cut losses rather than hold.
Yes, $KOGE was fully diluted from day one.
And no — 48Club never promise we wouldn’t sell. Neither did Binance for $BNB, right?
Do your own research.
Take your own risk.— 48 Club (Est. ’17) (@48Club_Official) June 14, 2025
Adding to the issue, analysts say trading on Binance Alpha has thinned out significantly, with only bots and whales active in the books. That means any sizable trade could cause major price swings, making the market extremely unstable.
If the unlocked tokens are dumped quickly, ZKJ could experience another sharp leg down. Traders and holders are now watching closely, hoping the team implements some kind of vesting control or strategic release to minimize damage.
But without strong liquidity support or positive sentiment, ZKJ remains highly vulnerable in the short term.
Meanwhile, major tokens like Bitcoin are showing resilience—with BTC dominance jumping as altcoins bleed.
📢 $ZKJ is CRASHING — but here’s what most people don’t know 👇#Polyhedra just unlocked 15.5M tokens ($30M+) on May 19. That triggered a massive sell-off, with price dumping over 90% and volume down 40%+.
Everyone’s panicking… but the fundamentals? Still good.
Backed by… pic.twitter.com/abV31OKXzq— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) June 15, 2025
How Arbitrage and Farming Tied ZKJ and KOGE Together
Part of the reason both tokens fell so quickly lies in how interconnected they were.
ZKJ isn’t just another token—it powers zkBridge infrastructure, supporting cross-chain privacy and verification. KOGE, on the other hand, is the governance token for 48 Club DAO, a DeFi group on the BNB Chain.
In recent months, both tokens were frequently used in joint farming pools and arbitrage strategies. Liquidity providers paired them across different platforms to maximize rewards. That helped inflate volumes and gave a sense of stability.
But it also created a dangerous dependency.
When KOGE’s USDT pool failed, users scrambled to use the ZKJ/KOGE pool as an exit route. That created instant sell pressure on ZKJ, even though its project had not technically failed. In other words, ZKJ got caught in the crossfire of KOGE’s collapse.
This shows how tightly linked DeFi ecosystems can create hidden risks. What seemed like efficient liquidity farming turned out to be a fragile system with a domino effect.
The community is now calling for both projects to rethink how they design liquidity structures, and some are demanding an end to paired farming until trust is restored.
This echoes broader concerns about smart contract and protocol risk, similar to Tornado Cash facing government blocks and shutdowns.
Community Backlash Heats Up After the Collapse
The most visible fallout from the ZKJ token crash has been the community reaction, which has grown increasingly hostile.
Within hours of the incident, forums and Telegram channels were flooded with angry posts. Users posted screenshots of wallets losing thousands of dollars in minutes. X (formerly Twitter) saw hashtags like #ZKJrug and #48ClubFail gain momentum.
Many are demanding accountability from project leaders. KOGE’s team, in particular, has come under fire for failing to communicate during the crisis. The silence only fueled rumors of internal chaos and lack of preparation.
ZKJ’s team did attempt to defend its actions, stating that their liquidity defense mechanisms worked “as intended” until the volume overwhelmed them. But that explanation didn’t do much to ease the concerns of investors who felt blindsided.
Some users have even called for regulatory review or third-party audits, citing the massive losses and what they consider gross mismanagement of liquidity pools.
This isn’t isolated—regulatory shakeups are already hitting crypto hard, with recent SEC policy reversals impacting investor trust.
With trust deeply shaken, both ZKJ and KOGE now face a long road back. Restoring credibility will likely require transparency, active community engagement, and major structural changes to how liquidity is handled.
And for those still trading in this volatile environment, hourly Bitcoin bets are quickly becoming the new normal—highlighting just how fast this space moves.
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