Polyhedra launches Phoenix Revival Program to reward loyal stakers during ZKJ token crash

Polyhedra has unveiled the Phoenix Revival Program, a new initiative aimed at rewarding users who stood by the project during its June 15 liquidity crisis.

Announced on July 1 via an X article, the program targets on-chain Polyhedra Network (ZKJ) stakers who held tokens on Ethereum (ETH) or BNB Chain (BNB) at 13:00 UTC on the day of the crash. Eligible users will receive early access to future ecosystem airdrops and a share of incentives from upcoming Polyhedra products, including its ZKML platform, privacy-preserving stablecoin, and dark pool trading protocol.

The size of each user’s rewards will be based on their staking power at the time of the snapshot. The Phoenix Revival Program is part of the protocol’s wider strategy shift, also announced alongside the initiative. 

Polyhedra’s roadmap will shift its focus to zero-knowledge infrastructure, which includes the upcoming Dark Pool decentralized exchange, a privacy stablecoin that is compliance-ready, and its ZKML inference engine. In addition, it plans to roll out EXPchain, a Layer 1 blockchain tailored for zk applications.

The move follows one of the most severe events in the project’s history. On June 15, Polyhedra’s ZKJ token plummeted from around $2 to under $0.35, triggered by a coordinated liquidity withdrawal on PancakeSwap (CAKE). One wallet removed $4.3 million in LP tokens, then quickly sold over 1.5 million ZKJ. 

Additional ZKJ deposits to exchanges by a Wintermute-linked wallet during the same window raised market suspicions, though no direct link to the attack has been confirmed. The situation was worsened by cascading liquidations on Bybit, where up to $97 million in leveraged long positions were wiped out within two hours. 

Polyhedra later injected $30 million in stablecoins into DEX liquidity pools and launched a token buyback plan, but ZKJ has hasn’t quite yet recovered. The token is trading at $0.205 as of press time, down 89% on the month. It’s now 94% from its all-time high of $4.01 set in March 2024.

Despite recent volatility, Polyhedra’s team says it is committed to long-term product delivery and rewarding users who maintained their stake through the turmoil.