June will see three major token unlocks—ZKsync (ZK), Vana (VANA), and LayerZero (ZRO). These tokens will unlock nearly $133 million in newly circulating assets.
Overall, $2.4 billion worth of assets will be unlocked this month. These unlocks represent sizable portions of each project’s market cap and could influence short-term price dynamics. Here’s what to know.
1. ZKsync (ZK)
Unlock Date: June 17
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 770 million ZK (3.67% of Max Supply)
On June 17, 770 million ZK tokens—worth approximately $41.61 million—will be unlocked. Of that, 397.20 million tokens (11%) are allocated to investors, and 372.80 million tokens (11%) to team members.
This unlock represents nearly 21% of the token’s market cap. ZKsync is currently trading at $0.05394, down 11% in the last week of May.
2. Vana (VANA)
Unlock Date: June 16
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 5.19 million VANA (4.33% of Total Supply)
Current Circulating Supply: 30.8 million VANA
Vana is a decentralized data marketplace that lets users control and monetize their personal data. Its native token, VANA, powers platform access, rewards contributors, and governs network decisions.
On June 16, Vana will release 5.19 million tokens—valued at $35.25 million. The distribution includes 4.74 million tokens (8.98%) for community initiatives and 452.60K tokens (1.65%) for ecosystem expansion.
Meanwhile, the token is up 18% in the last week of May. So, this unlock could test bullish sentiment.
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 24.68 million ZRO (2.47% of Total Supply)
Current Circulating Supply: 111.15 million ZRO
LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol designed to connect disparate blockchain networks. Its ZRO token plays a key role in governance and may support future messaging or fee functionalities.
On June 20, LayerZero will unlock 24.68 million ZRO tokens. The unlocked assets will be worth roughly $56.72 million.
Overall, the allocation includes 12.88 million tokens (4%) for strategic partners, 10.20 million tokens (4%) for core contributors, and 1.60 million tokens (4%) for tokens repurchased by the team.
Meanwhile, ZRO is currently trading at $2.30, down 10% in the final week of May.
These three unlocks represent a combined $133 million in token value entering the market. With substantial portions going to insiders and ecosystems, market participants should monitor distribution activity closely.
Short-term volatility may follow, especially in lower-liquidity trading environments.
Social engineering scams are on the rise, and these exploits have particularly targeted Coinbase users throughout the first quarter of 2025. According to a series of investigations by ZachXBT, users have lost over $100 million in funds since December 2024, while annual losses reached $300 million.
After sorting through the complaints made by different users, BeInCrypto spoke with Coinbase Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Jeff Lunglhofer to understand what makes users vulnerable to these kinds of attacks, how they happen, and what’s being done to stop them.
Gauging the Seriousness of Scams Affecting Coinbase Users
Throughout the first quarter of 2025, several Coinbase users fell victim to social engineering scams. As the leading centralized exchange in a sector where hacks are becoming more sophisticated with time, this reality is no surprise.
In a recent investigation, Web3 researcher ZachXBT reported on several messages he received from different X users who had suffered major withdrawals from their Coinbase accounts.
1/ Over the past few months I imagine you have seen many Coinbase users complain on X about their accounts suddenly being restricted.
This is the result of aggressive risk models and Coinbase’s failure to stop its users losing $300M+ per year to social engineering scams. pic.twitter.com/PjtX7vmjqc
On March 28, ZachXBT revealed a significant social engineering exploit that cost one individual close to $35 million. The crypto sleuth’s further investigations during that period uncovered additional victims of the same exploit, pushing the total stolen in March alone to more than $46 million.
In a separate investigation concluded a month earlier, ZachXBT revealed that $65 million was stolen from Coinbase users between December 2024 and January 2025. He also reported that Coinbase has been quietly grappling with a social engineering scam issue costing its users $300 million a year.
While Coinbase users have been particularly vulnerable to social engineering scams, centralized exchanges, in general, have also been significantly impacted by these increasingly sophisticated attacks.
How Does The Broader Context Reflect This Situation?
Public data regarding the evolution of social engineering scams in recent years is limited and somewhat outdated. Yet, the numbers in the available reports are staggering.
In 2023, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) under the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its first-ever cryptocurrency report. Investment fraud constituted the largest category of cryptocurrency-related complaints, representing 46% of the nearly 69,500 complaints received, or approximately 33,000 cases.
The FBI’s IC3 reported an increase in crypto-related scams in 2023. Source: IC3.
Investment fraud, or pig butchering, involves false promises of high returns with low risk to lure investors, especially crypto newcomers driven by a fear of missing out on significant gains.
According to the IC3 report, these schemes rely on social engineering and building trust. Criminals use platforms like social media, dating apps, professional networks, or encrypted messaging to connect with their targets.
In 2023, these investment scams resulted in losses of $3.96 billion for users, representing a 53% increase from the previous year. Other social engineering scams, like phishing and spoofing, further constituted $9.6 million in losses.
Coinbase scammers tend to create fake emails that appear legitimate using cloned website images and false Case IDs. They then contact users through spoofed calls, leveraging private information to build trust before sending them these deceptive emails.
Once scammers have convinced users of the interaction’s legitimacy, they exploit the situation to persuade them to transfer funds.
The increasing sophistication of these scams illustrates both the emotional manipulation involved and the particular vulnerability of the victims. They demonstrate that centralized exchanges are often the primary platforms for these exploitations.
ZackXBT’s investigations and user reports on X reveal a gap between the extent of social engineering scams and Coinbase’s apparent management effectiveness.
Public discussions indicate that Coinbase has not flagged theft addresses in common compliance tools.
Victims of scams and users whose funds were frozen are urging Coinbase to take stronger action against this growing and costly issue. Understanding how these scams take place is essential to effectively addressing them.
How Are Coinbase Users Made Victims?
In January, a victim contacted the investigator after losing $850,000. In that instance, the scammer contacted the victim from a spoofed phone number, using personal information likely obtained from private databases to gain their trust.
5/ They then sent a spoofed email which appeared to be from Coinbase with a fake Case ID further gaining trust.
They instructed the victim to transfer funds to a Coinbase Wallet and whitelist an address while “support” verified their accounts security. pic.twitter.com/pOTQpnMfCz
The scammer convinced the victim that their account had suffered multiple unauthorized login attempts by sending them a spoofed email with a fake Case ID. The scammer then instructed the victim to safelist an address and transfer funds to another Coinbase wallet as part of a routine security procedure.
Last October, another Coinbase user lost $6.5 million after receiving a call from a spoofed number impersonating Coinbase support.
The victim was coerced into using a phishing site. Eight months earlier, another victim lost $4 million after a scammer convinced them to reset their Coinbase login.
ZachXBT raised concerns about Coinbase’s lack of reporting the theft addresses in common compliance resources and their perceived inadequate handling of the escalating social engineering issue.
In a conversation with BeInCrypto, Jeff Lunglhofer, Coinbase’s Chief Information Security Officer, shared his version of the events.
Coinbase CISO Addresses Social Engineering Scams
Despite Coinbase’s clear understanding of the widespread harm caused by social engineering scams affecting its users, Lunglhofer stressed that the broader crypto community should address this problem collectively rather than entrusting the responsibility to a single entity.
“In the context of the broader social engineering challenge that’s out there, of course, Coinbase customers are impacted. We’re keenly aware of it. We’ve been rolling [out] a number of control improvements to help protect our users, and, I think more importantly, we are working with the broader industry to bring these ideas and these control uplifts across the industry, across all crypto exchanges, across everything,” Lunglhofer told BeInCrypto.
Coinbase’s CISO referenced the exchange’s collaborative efforts with other platforms to combat this problem in his reply.
Specifically, Lunglhofer pointed to the “Tech Against Scams” initiative, a partnership with industry players like Match Group, Meta, Kraken, Ripple, and Gemini to fight online fraud and financial schemes.
Lunglhofer also added that Coinbase takes a similar approach when flagging theft addresses.
Why Coinbase Handles Theft Addresses Differently
When BeInCrypto asked Coinbase why it doesn’t publish theft addresses across popular compliance tools, Lunglhofer explained that the exchange has a different procedure for these scenarios.
“We will communicate with other exchanges directly [and] let them know the addresses that we’ve seen where assets have been withdrawn,” he said, adding that “when we see that there’s, in fact, fraudulent [activity], we will pull back all the wallets that are associated with the fraud and we’ll push those out to the other exchanges that we have communications with,” he said.
Lunglhofer also mentioned Crypto ISAC, an intelligence and information-sharing group established by Coinbase in collaboration with various other crypto exchanges and organizations to distribute information related to scams.
Coinbase’s Struggle Against the Flood of Spoofed Content
Lunglhofer admitted that the number of spoofed emails Coinbase identifies or receives in the form of reports far exceeds the exchange’s capacity to take them down.
“Regrettably, they’re a dime a dozen. I can open ten of them in five minutes. It’s super easy to do. So there’s not a lot we can do about that. But, when we identify them [or when] a customer reports them, we do have them taken down,” he said.
Coinbase uses vendors to eliminate circulating spoofs or phishing campaigns in those instances.
“We have several vendors that we use to do takedowns. So anytime we see a fraudulent phone number pop up, anytime we see a fraudulent URL [or] a fraudulent website get established, we will issue those for takedown. We’ll use our vendors to work with the DNS providers and others to bring those down as quickly as possible,” Lunglhofer told BeInCrypto.
Although these preventative measures are essential for the future, they provide minimal recourse for users who have already lost millions of dollars to scams.
Whose Responsibility Is It? User vs. Exchange
Coinbase did not respond to BeInCrypto’s inquiry about developing an insurance policy for users who lost savings to social engineering scams, leaving their approach in this area unclear.
Yet, social engineering scams are complex, relying on significant emotional manipulation to build trust. This complexity raises questions about the degree of responsibility that falls on user vulnerability versus potential shortcomings in the centralized exchange’s user protection measures.
The broader cryptocurrency community generally agrees that more educational materials are necessary to help users distinguish between legitimate communications and scam attempts.
Regarding this issue, Lunglhofer clarified that Coinbase will never call users out of the blue. He also noted that Coinbase has recently implemented different features that act as warnings for users potentially interacting with a scam.
Furthermore, the CISO cited a ‘scam quiz,’ an educational tool that appears as a real-time banner when a user is about to undertake a transaction flagged as suspicious by the exchange.
Though this feature is an advantage, its ability to protect users is hard to quantify, especially regarding how efficiently it flags suspicious activity. Coinbase did not respond when BeInCrypto asked if the exchange internally tracked data related to social engineering scams.
A similar issue arises with Coinbase’s ‘allow lists.’
The $850,000 Coinbase Loss
Coinbase offers a feature that enables users to create a safelist of approved recipient addresses to help prevent transactions to unfamiliar or unverified addresses. Lunglhofer strongly urges Coinbase users to adopt this measure.
“We offer every retail customer the ability to create ‘allow lists’ for wallets that they’re permitted to transfer assets to. On my personal account on Coinbase, I have ‘allow listing’ turned on, and I only have three wallets that are allowed,” Lunglhofer detailed.
However, the $850,000 scam loss suffered by a Coinbase user in January, as revealed by ZachXBT, shows a critical limitation of safelists.
Even after a victim adds a theft address, manipulation leading to this addition can still occur, thereby neutralizing the intended protection.
Can Coinbase Do More to Protect Users?
Sophisticated social engineering scams are a growing threat, creating significant challenges for crypto users. Coinbase users and centralized exchanges in general are particularly affected.
Despite Coinbase’s outlined efforts, the significant financial losses highlight the limitations of current industry-standard measures against determined scammers.
While cooperation is crucial across the board, Coinbase, as a leading platform, must also put more proactive efforts and resources into educating its users.
Social engineering is predominantly a user-driven issue, not a security failure for any exchange. Yet, platforms like Coinbase have the critical responsibility to lead industry-wide initiatives to address these threats.
The millions lost are a stark reminder that vigilance and collective action are paramount in safeguarding users against these increasingly refined and frequent attacks.
Bitcoin (BTC) is facing a mix of bullish signals and short-term uncertainty. Moody’s recent downgrade of the US credit rating has heightened long-term bullish sentiment around BTC, reinforcing its role as a hedge against rising debt and fiscal uncertainty.
Meanwhile, on-chain data shows a declining supply of Bitcoin on exchanges, suggesting investors are leaning toward holding rather than selling. Despite these bullish fundamentals, BTC remains in a short-term consolidation phase, with price action needing fresh momentum to break higher.
Moody’s Downgrade Ends US Century-Long Perfect Credit Rating Streak
Moody’s has downgraded the US credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, removing the country’s last perfect score among major credit agencies.
It’s the first time in over a century that the US lacks a top-tier rating from all three, following downgrades by S&P in 2011 and Fitch in 2023. Rising deficits, mounting interest costs, and the absence of credible fiscal reforms drove the decision.
Markets reacted quickly—Treasury yields climbed, and equity futures slipped. The White House dismissed the downgrade as politically driven, with lawmakers still negotiating a $3.8 trillion tax and spending package.
Moody’s also warned that extending Trump-era tax cuts could deepen deficits, pushing them toward 9% of GDP by 2035—a scenario that may strengthen the appeal of crypto, especially Bitcoin, as a hedge against long-term fiscal instability.
After briefly rising from 1.42 million to 1.43 million between May 2 and May 7, Bitcoin’s supply on exchanges is falling once again.
This short uptick followed a more significant decline between April 17 and May 2, when the exchange supply dropped from 1.47 million to 1.42 million. Now, the metric has resumed its downward trend, currently sitting at 1.41 million BTC.
The supply of Bitcoin on exchanges is a key market indicator. When more BTC is held on exchanges, it often signals potential selling pressure, which can be bearish.
Conversely, a decline in exchange balances suggests holders are moving their coins to cold storage, reducing near-term sell pressure—a bullish signal. The current drop reinforces the idea that investors may be preparing to hold rather than sell.
The Ichimoku Cloud chart for Bitcoin shows a period of consolidation with neutral-to-slightly-bearish signals. The price is currently sitting right around the flat Kijun-sen (red line), indicating a lack of strong momentum in either direction.
The Tenkan-sen (blue line) is also flat and closely tracking the price, reinforcing this sideways movement and short-term indecision.
The Senkou Span A and B lines (which form the green cloud) are also relatively flat, suggesting equilibrium in the market. The price is moving near the top edge of the cloud, which typically acts as support. However, since the cloud is not expanding and has a flat structure, there is no strong trend confirmation at the moment.
The Chikou Span (green lagging line) is slightly above the price candles, hinting at mild bullish bias, but overall, the chart signals indecision and the need for a breakout to confirm the next direction.
Moody’s Downgrade Strengthens Bitcoin’s Long-Term Bull Case Amid Short-Term Consolidation
While it may not trigger immediate price action, the downgrade reinforces the narrative of growing fiscal instability and debt concerns—conditions that strengthen Bitcoin’s appeal as a decentralized, hard-capped asset.
In the medium to long term, more investors may turn to BTC as a hedge against sovereign risk and weakening trust in traditional financial systems.
In the short term, however, Bitcoin price remains in a consolidation phase after breaking above $100,000. Its EMA lines are still bullish, with shorter-term averages above longer-term ones, but they are flattening out.
For bullish momentum to resume, BTC would need to push past the $105,755 resistance.
On the downside, holding above the $100,694 support is crucial—losing it could open the door for declines toward $98,002 and potentially $93,422.
