Matter Labs Sued by BANKEX for Alleged Intellectual Property Theft
Matter Labs, the developer of layer-2 blockchain ZKSync, faces a lawsuit from BANKEX, a defunct digital asset banking platform. The complaint alleges:
- Former BANKEX employees Alexandr Vlasov and Petr Korolev are accused of stealing technology to establish Matter Labs.
- BANKEX claims it was approached by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in 2017 to develop software for "Plasma," intended to reduce Ethereum usage costs.
- The two former employees allegedly covertly created Matter Labs while misappropriating BANKEX's resources and technology.
- Vlasov is now the head of R&D at Matter Labs, while Korolev founded blockchain security firm OXORIO.
- Additional individuals, including Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski and Chris Burniske, are also named in the lawsuit.
Matter Labs responded, asserting that ZKSync is original technology not derived from BANKEX's code. BANKEX maintains confidence in its allegations and looks forward to court proceedings.