ZeroLend
Its team said the networks it relied on had fallen quiet
A lending market built on Aave V3 code that ran on many Ethereum layer 2 networks, offering loans against restaking tokens, real-world assets, bitcoin tokens and meme coins.
- Capital raised (announced)
Announced February 2024 seed; protocol deposits are separate from company backing.
- Peak protocol deposits
- Estimated
DefiLlama aggregate dollar-valued deposits on 8 November 2024; chain, borrowing, staking and pool-2 subtotals are not added again.
- Deposits at wind-down notice
- Estimated
DefiLlama aggregate on 16 February 2026; remaining protocol assets, not a measured loss or executed withdrawal.
Funding
| Round | Date | Announced | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 2024 |
Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.
People
| Name | Role | Period | Now | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryker (pseudonym) | — | Not established | Oct 2026 |
Timeline
21 February 2024
The project reported more than $49 million deposited, and planned to launch its ZERO token.
6 May 2024
Recipients of non-transferable earlyZERO rewards could convert them to the new token one for one, according to Bybit’s subsequent explainer.
8 November 2024
DefiLlama’s aggregate history records the high point here; it measures dollar value rather than the quantity of deposited tokens.
February 2025
An attacker used forged LBTC as collateral to drain liquidity from the market.
16 February 2026
Most markets were set to allow no new borrowing, and users were told to withdraw.
How it ended
Ran out of money
ZeroLend announced on 16 February 2026 that it was winding down after three years. Its co-founder and chief executive wrote that the protocol was no longer sustainable: several networks it supported had become inactive or illiquid, some price-data providers had dropped support for them, and with thin margins and high risk it had operated at a loss for long periods. Most markets were set to allow no new borrowing, users were told to withdraw, and the team said it would update contracts to release assets stuck on low-liquidity networks and partly refund users of the market exploited in 2025.
Still alive
Open spot
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Sources
10 sources behind this page.
- 1ZeroLend: A Multichain Lending Platform on Layer 2 Networks · Bybit · May 2024
- 2DeFi protocol ZeroLend shuts down after three years, citing inactive chains and hacks · CoinDesk · Feb 2026
- 3ZeroLend Secures $3M in Seed Funding Round at Valuation of $25M · Coinspeaker · Feb 2024
- 4ZeroLend Latest DeFi Platform to Shut Down Amid Liquidity, Revenue Pressures · Decrypt · Feb 2026
- 5ZeroLend historical protocol TVL · DefiLlama
- 6ZeroLend Raises $3 Million in Seed Funding Led by Prominent VCs · ICOholder · Feb 2024
- 7Search of @zerolendxyz posts, 15 to 18 February 2026 · twitterapi.io
- 8X account record for @zerolendxyz · twitterapi.io
- 9X account lookup: @deadshotryker · twitterapi.io (X data provider)
- 10ZeroLend Shuts Down After Liquidity Dries Up Across Layer 2s · Unchained (Laura Shin Media)
Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.