Polyhedra Claims New Liquidity Attack! Is This Another Hack?

The crypto world is once again rattled by controversy, this time surrounding Polyhedra Network and its native token ZKJ, which suffered a dramatic price drop of over 80% within hours. 

The team behind Polyhedra has pointed to a "coordinated liquidity attack" as the primary cause, involving Wintermute, a prominent crypto market maker, and alleged aggressive selling activities targeting fragile liquidity pools.

As speculation brews over whether this was an orchestrated attack or another example of poor liquidity management, investors are left wondering: Was this just market manipulation, or are we dealing with yet another major crypto exploit?

This article explores the timeline, actors involved, technical causes, and broader implications of what may become one of the most contentious liquidity crises in recent DeFi memory.

What Happened to Polyhedra and ZKJ?

On Sunday, the ZKJ token—Polyhedra Network's native asset—plummeted from $1.92 to $0.32, wiping out nearly $500 million in market value. The collapse was swift, shocking holders who had watched ZKJ hover near the $2 mark for several months.

In an official statement shared via Polyhedra’s X (formerly Twitter) account, the team identified five key contributing factors:

• Coordinated on-chain liquidity attacks targeting the ZKJ/KOGE pool on PancakeSwap.
  
   
• Substantial token deposits by Wintermute into centralized exchanges.
  
   
• Cascading liquidations following aggressive sell-offs.
  
   
• Fragile liquidity concentration across trading pairs.
  
   
• Large-scale withdrawals that depleted ZKJ’s market depth.
   

The ZKJ/KOGE pair on PancakeSwap appeared to be especially vulnerable due to low liquidity, which was exploited to drive rapid price depreciation. The sell pressure then rippled into ZKJ’s USDT pair, compounding the damage.

Read More: ZKJ Crypto Price Crashes Over 80% Due to Pull Liquidation

Was This a Coordinated Liquidity Attack?

Polyhedra suspects foul play. In its post, the team emphasized that several wallets were seemingly coordinating the timing and volume of token deposits and withdrawals to engineer a liquidity crisis.

"We suspect the addresses coordinated a liquidity attack with an egregious malicious attempt. These actions removed critical market depth,” Polyhedra wrote.

This coordinated activity, particularly in low-liquidity pools, created a snowball effect. As slippage increased and liquidity dried up, large token sales pushed prices downward, triggering stop-losses and liquidations on centralized exchanges.

Some experts argue that such behavior doesn’t necessarily constitute a "hack" in the traditional sense, but is better categorized as on-chain exploitation of liquidity mechanics—a gray zone that is increasingly common in decentralized finance.

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The Role of Wintermute: Market Maker or Market Shaker?

A central point of contention involves Wintermute, a well-known algorithmic trading firm and liquidity provider. Polyhedra claims that a Wintermute-linked address deposited over 3.39 million ZKJ tokens into centralized exchanges at the exact time of the crash.

This timing, combined with the magnitude of the deposits, raised suspicions that Wintermute’s actions may have contributed—intentionally or not—to the price collapse.

However, there is no concrete evidence (yet) that Wintermute acted maliciously. The firm has not publicly responded to the allegations. 

Given their position as a liquidity provider, large movements of tokens to CEXs might simply reflect routine operations—although the scale and timing are undeniably questionable.

Read More: ZKJ Crypto Polyhedra Network Price Prediction 2025 to 2028

KOGE Dragged Into the Blame Game

Adding another twist, Polyhedra co-founder Tiancheng Xie directly accused KOGE, a governance token for BNB48 Club, of contributing to the ZKJ collapse. He claimed KOGE had “rugged all of us.”

KOGE’s community swiftly rejected the allegations. In a statement published on Binance Square, a user associated with KOGE refuted the claim, stating:

“After throwing $KOGE and Wintermute, only your damn air project is innocent.”

The public bickering has raised further skepticism around Polyhedra’s internal risk controls and liquidity provisioning strategy, particularly for a project that claims to specialize in infrastructure and zero-knowledge technology.

Is This Another Hack?

While this may not be a traditional hack involving unauthorized access or stolen funds, it does highlight a growing vulnerability in DeFi: liquidity fragility. 

Poorly managed pools with low depth are increasingly becoming targets for “liquidity sniping”—coordinated market activities that collapse prices without technically breaching any security protocols.

So, is this another hack? Not in the classic sense. But it is a strategic exploitation of liquidity mechanics—one that could have been prevented with more robust on-chain defense measures and monitoring tools.

Read More: Is Ripple Next to Get Hacked? A Warning Issued to the Community

What’s Next for Polyhedra?

The Polyhedra Network is now scrambling to restore confidence. ZKJ is trading around $0.39, far below its pre-crash level. The team has promised further investigation and transparency, but the reputational damage is significant.

For a project that champions zk-proofs and infrastructure-level innovations, this kind of operational failure may undermine its credibility with both users and institutional backers.

Conclusion

The Polyhedra ZKJ liquidity attack underscores the urgent need for better risk mitigation in DeFi. 

While it may not involve malicious code or hacking in the traditional sense, the event reflects how fragile liquidity, centralized exchange dependencies, and poor pool architecture can lead to devastating outcomes.

Projects must learn to defend not just their smart contracts, but also their market mechanisms—before the next “non-hack” hack happens again.

FAQ

What is Polyhedra?

Polyhedra Network is a blockchain infrastructure project focused on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and cross-chain messaging. Its native token is ZKJ.

What is a liquidity attack?

A liquidity attack refers to the manipulation or draining of liquidity pools to cause large price swings. It often involves coordinated sales and withdrawals that exploit shallow market depth.

Was Polyhedra hacked?

There is no indication of a traditional hack. Instead, Polyhedra experienced what appears to be a coordinated liquidity attack, possibly involving market manipulation but no smart contract exploits.

What role did Wintermute play?

Wintermute is alleged to have deposited over 3.3 million ZKJ tokens to centralized exchanges around the time of the crash. Polyhedra points to these actions as contributing to the sell-off, but direct intent has not been proven.

What happened to ZKJ price?

ZKJ dropped from $1.92 to $0.32 in just a few hours on Sunday, June 16, wiping out around $500 million in value. As of the latest update, the price is hovering around $0.39.