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The crypto community has rallied behind respected blockchain sleuth ZachXBT just days after disclosing a lawsuit related to a previous investigation.
Donations to ZachXBT have poured in from across the crypto community and have crossed over $1 million so far to help fund his legal defense.
Donations Pour In
Following the disclosure of the lawsuit, the blockchain sleuth posted a digital wallet address on his official Twitter handle, along with details of the lawsuit filed against him by Jeffrey Huang. Huang is a Taiwanese-American musician and tech entrepreneur. ZachXBT described the lawsuit as troubling and called it a “David and Goliath” story.
“It’s unfortunate I have to make this thread, but I am being sued by MachiBigBrother for an article I published in June 2022. Today Machi filed a defamation lawsuit. The lawsuit is baseless and an attempt to chill free speech. I intend to fight back & defend free speech.”
ZachXBT noted that his legal expenses could cost more than $1 million. However, in an example of how tight-knit the crypto community is, donations poured in, and within a day, ZachXBT’s donation wallet accumulated digital assets worth beyond the stated goal. According to Nansen Portfolio, a majority of donations primarily consisted of stablecoins. ZachXBT added that any leftover funds would be returned back to the donors on a pro-rata basis.
“I am creating a donation address to assist with legal costs associated with the defense of this matter, which could easily exceed $1m USD. All leftover funds will be returned on a pro-rata basis to contributors.”
Currently, the wallet contains over $650,000 worth of USDC, $274,000 worth of Tether, and several other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Polygon (MATIC).
Prominent Names Step In To Help
Several users from a number of cryptocurrency exchanges also donated towards the effort, with ZachXBT’s donation wallet receiving funds from wallets linked to all major exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, OKX, Coinbase, Bitfinex, Bybit, 1inch, and Uniswap. Donations under the $100 mark number in the thousands, while several donations are between $10,000 and $50,000, as several prominent members from the crypto ecosystem also chipped in.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also made a donation of $50,000, urging ZachXBT to keep up the fight and help keep crypto transparent. The donation from Zhao comes even as the Binance CEO is himself grappling with a lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, Tron founder Justin Sun also donated $10,000 worth of the True USD stablecoin. Sun also highlighted ZachXBT’s role in educating the crypto community, stating,
“I’m pleased to pledge a donation of 10k #TUSD to @zachxbt. Despite not being a legal expert myself, I highly value Zach’s substantial contributions to blockchain security and his crucial role in guiding our users to safeguard their funds.”
The Lawsuit Against ZachXBT
ZachXBT was sued by NFT trader MachiBigBrother, also called Jeffrey Huang. ZachXBT had published a report about Huang last year, alleging that he had embezzled millions of dollars worth of crypto. MachiBigBrother filed the lawsuit against the blockchain sleuth in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that ZachXBT’s report caused serious monetary and reputational harm. The lawyer representing MachiBigBrother stated,
“Without any regard for the ruinous effect that public allegations of criminal conduct can produce for the accused individual, [ZachXBT] not only proceeded to publish his defamatory article on Medium.com, he also maliciously promoted the article to his more than 300,000 Twitter followers.”
ZachXBT faces one count of libel and one count of libel per se. The lawsuit also requests that the court order ZachXBT to pay actual and compensatory damages in addition to exemplary damages, the amount of which will be determined by the court.
ZachXBT has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in the crypto space and has shone a light on several crypto projects and on-chain events. In the process, he has uncovered several potential scams and bad actors and studied exploits and hacks to find out their root causes. His detective work has also led to several real-world arrests and helped him amass a significant following, along with a place on the Consensus Magazine’s Most Influential 2022 list.
However, the lawsuit has threatened to compromise ZachXBT’s identity after his name and place of residence were revealed. However, as the lawsuit progresses, the crypto and Web3 communities have come out in complete support through their donations.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.