Author: StarPlatinum
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
He was scammed when buying cryptocurrency in 2017, losing over $15,000. To figure out what happened, he began studying blockchain explorers. Today, he has become one of the most respected investigators in the crypto field.
Who exactly is ZachXBT?
Before becoming a blockchain detective, ZachXBT was just an ordinary retail investor. He trusted projects and invested crazily in NFT collections. Then, scams followed one after another. Later, he suffered a hacking attack. In 2018, he lost over $15,000 worth of ETH. Thus, he opened Etherscan and began mining.
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He learned on his own. By tracking wallets through mixers, joining the open-source intelligence (OSINT) circle, and drawing scam flowcharts on paper. He never studied finance nor worked in the tech industry. With just public tools and a lot of time, he explored step by step. By May 2021, he was ready to take action.
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His first case exposed the suspicious funding of 'Impact Theory.' Then, the Rogue Society incident broke out: 15,777 NFTs were minted. The developers vanished, and Zach tracked the flow of funds. He traced wallets and publicly disclosed Discord receipts. Eventually, the founders had to show up. And this was just the beginning of his story.
He exposed the $70 million Pixelmon disaster. He revealed how the team used minting funds to purchase Bored Apes. Then, he dismantled a phishing gang that stole $2.5 million worth of BAYC NFTs. Zach tracked the scammers' identities through wallet tracing. Ultimately, five suspects were arrested in France, and the police publicly thanked him for his contributions.
In 2022, ZachXBT faced his biggest case. He released a ten-part report exposing the insider story of Machi 'Big Brother.' He linked 21 wallets to $37 million of missing funds. Subsequently, Machi sued him for defamation. The crypto community quickly rallied, raising $1 million for Zach's legal defense. Zach did not back down. Ultimately, Machi dropped the lawsuit.
ZachXBT continues to investigate deeply. He tracked the North Korean hacking organization Lazarus Group, the mastermind behind the Ronin and Harmony bridge vulnerabilities. He mapped out the flow of funds, revealing a path of $200 million through Tornado, ChipMixer, and Asian exchanges. He then shared this information with law enforcement, assisting in the freezing of the related funds.
Zach has never worked for any institution, but his investigations have attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies worldwide. The U.S. Secret Service has cited his research, and the French cybercrime department called him faster than the police. Arkham hired him to expose the identities of wallet holders. So far, he has assisted in recovering over $435 million in stolen funds. And he has done all this anonymously, without ever appearing in public.
He exposed several crypto influencers, including BitBoy, Logan Paul, Lark Davis, and Kyle Chasse. Whether they had lawyers or large fanbases, he showed no fear. He tracked phishing gangs, airdrop dumpers, KOL frontrunners, and insider traders. In four years, he has published over 200 investigative reports.
In 2025, Paradigm officially announced that Zach joined the team as an incident response advisor. Co-founder Matt Huang publicly thanked him for recovering over $350 million for victims. Even after four years, Zach still maintains that cartoon platypus avatar and his relentless pursuit of the truth.
ZachXBT has become the industry standard. His investigations have not only changed the policies of exchanges but have also assisted in bringing scammers to justice and transformed on-chain analysis into a force for good. From exposing scams to building a reputation as the most trusted figure in Web3, he has taken it step by step.
He is the detective of the crypto world: ZachXBT.
If you want to support ZachXBT's work, here is his donation wallet address:
EVM:
0x9D727911B54C455B0071A7B682FcF4Bc444B5596
SOL: investigations.sol
BTC:
bc1qus70g077qqpue70ldk6grvh3qexvfhu5kn6wv7