Matter Labs, the development team behind the prominent Ethereum Layer-2 network ZKsync, is embroiled in a significant legal dispute. A ZKsync lawsuit has been filed by BANKEX, a blockchain company that has since ceased operations.
BANKEX accuses Matter Labs of intellectual property theft related to early Plasma scaling technology. The complaint, lodged in the New York State Supreme Court, specifically names former BANKEX developers Alexandr Vlasov and Petr Korolev.
The filing alleges that Vlasov and Korolev misappropriated proprietary code initially developed at BANKEX to establish Matter Labs. It claims they secretly developed Matter Labs using company resources and transferred BANKEX’s technology while still employed there.
This legal challenge touches upon early Ethereum scaling history. Vitalik Buterin reportedly commissioned BANKEX back in 2017 to contribute to Plasma development. The lawsuit draws a line from this early work to the foundational technology of ZKsync, a project that has attracted over $450 million in funding.
Beyond the core developers, the lawsuit also names Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski, venture capital firm Dragonfly, and former board member Chris Burniske, broadening the scope of the legal confrontation over the origins of this major player in Ethereum’s Layer-2 ecosystem.