Bankex Files Lawsuit Against Matter Labs Over Alleged Technology Theft

According to Foresight News, the defunct blockchain company Bankex has filed a lawsuit against Matter Labs, the developer of ZKsync, alleging that former Bankex employees Alexandr Vlasov and Petr Korolev stole company technology to establish Matter Labs and develop ZKsync. The complaint states that in 2017, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin approached Bankex to build operational software for 'Plasma,' a technology aimed at reducing Ethereum's usage costs. At the time, Vlasov and Korolev were Bankex employees tasked by CEO Igor Khemel to complete the Plasma project. Currently, Vlasov serves as the head of research and development at Matter Labs, while Korolev is the founder of blockchain security firm OXORIO. The lawsuit also names Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski, Dragonfly, a crypto-native investment fund, and Placeholder Capital partner and former Matter Labs co-director Chris Burniske, alleging their involvement and awareness of the theft. A spokesperson for Matter Labs stated in an email to CoinDesk, "We believe these allegations are entirely unfounded. The complaint suggests that Matter Labs built ZKsync on code initially developed by Bankex. This is completely false. ZKsync is an original technology, not based on or derived from any code developed by Bankex. We stand by the integrity of our work and look forward to addressing these baseless claims in court once we receive the lawsuit."