As cases suspected of price rigging continue to surface in the virtual asset market, a post by the anonymous virtual asset analyst ZachXBT, active on X (formerly Twitter), is drawing attention.
Active since 2021, ZachXBT is an on-chain (Blockchain-based network) Researcher who uncovers virtual asset fraud and price rigging and tracks stolen funds. Using the pseudonym ZachXBT, with 1 million followers, Zach directly investigates and exposes virtual asset misconduct that law enforcement has not identified.
Recently, ZachXBT said a group suspected of price rigging had been buying up RAVE DAO (RAVE) for months, leading one wallet to hold 98% of the circulating supply. RAVE DAO, listed on the domestic virtual asset exchange GOPAX in Dec. last year, once surged to 40,000 won on the 18th of last month, but has now plunged more than 90% following ZachXBT's exposé.
On domestic virtual asset exchanges where only spot is listed, there are no perpetual futures (futures contracts with no expiration) to bet on declines, so when prices plunge, investors who bought at the top have no choice but to take losses. According to virtual asset data analytics firm Kaiko, Korea accounts for about 30% of global virtual asset spot trading volume.
Despite monikers like "on-chain investigator" and "anonymous sleuth," ZachXBT was also a victim of virtual asset fraud. During the 2017 boom in initial coin offerings (ICO), Zach bought overhyped coins and non-fungible tokens (NFT), but was harmed by a so-called "rug pull," where developers gathered investors and then siphoned off the funds and vanished.
After losing about $15,000, ZachXBT began analyzing on-chain data and studying how virtual asset price rigging and hacking work. ZachXBT's first major investigation, in early 2022, was tracking the funds of phishing scammers.
By compiling on-chain data and Telegram information, Zach identified teenage phishing scammers, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted raids and made arrests based on that information. When the FBI thanked those who helped solve the case on its official X account at the time, ZachXBT gained prominence.
In early 2024, ZachXBT also traced on-chain data and money-laundering activity to reveal links to the North Korean hacking group "Lazarus" behind virtual asset hacks. ZachXBT's research into how state-linked actors abuse decentralized finance (DeFi) features to conceal stolen virtual assets has helped law enforcement agencies in multiple countries.
Over the past four years, ZachXBT has published more than 200 investigative reports and tracked over $200 million (about 300 billion won) in 25 virtual asset hacks. With about $400,000 in community donations, Zach is continuing to expose virtual asset misconduct, including by placing bounties on price rigging groups.