Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has received over $1 million in donations from the crypto community in just over 24 hours to pay for his legal fees in a defamation lawsuit.<\/p>\n
ZachXBT, known for his investigative work in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, has become embroiled in a legal dispute with Jeffrey Huang, better known on Twitter as MachiBigBrother.<\/p>\n
On June 16, Huang tweeted that he had filed a defamation lawsuit against ZachXBT, accusing him of damaging his reputation<\/a> through false allegations.<\/p>\n While Huang didn\u2019t specify those allegations, in June 2022, an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0was published by ZachXBT titled: 22,000 ETH Embezzled and Over Ten Projects Failed: The Story of Machi Big Brother (Jeff Huang).<\/p>\n In the article, ZachXBT accused Huang of launching over \u201cover 10 failed pump and dump tokens and NFT projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to the lawsuit in a series of tweets on June 17, ZachXBT called the lawsuit \u201cbaseless\u201d and an \u201cattempt to chill free speech.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He set up a donation wallet address for his followers to assist with the legal fees, which he believes could \u201ceasily exceed\u201d $1 million.<\/p>\n 3\/ I am creating a donation address to assist with legal costs associated with the defense of this matter, which could easily exceed $1m USD. <\/p>\n All leftover funds will be returned on a pro rata basis to contributors.<\/p>\n \u2014 ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 16, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n He added that the lawsuit \u201cis sickening,\u201d but he \u201cknew one day\u201d it would happen, as that is \u201cthe price\u201d of honesty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe price of telling the truth is sometimes people dislike what you say,\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Crypto phishing scams: How users can stay protected<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Several crypto executives donated to ZachXBT and praised him for his work<\/a> in the crypto and Web3 industry.<\/p>\n Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance, praised ZachXBT in a tweet<\/a> telling him to \u201ckeep the industry transparent,\u201d along with a pledge that Binance will \u201ccontribute $50K\u201d to his legal fees.<\/p>\n Jesse Powell, the co-founder of crypto exchange Kraken, also thanked ZachXBT for \u201call that\u201d he does, stating he would be donating 10 Ether (ETH<\/a>), approximately $17,294.30 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n In for 10 ETH. Thanks for all that you do. Good luck.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jesse Powell (@jespow) June 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, Polygon\u2019s founder Sandeep Nailwal tweeted that ZachXBT is the \u201creason web3 is alive and flourishing,\u201d stating<\/a> that he will donate 5 ETH, approximately $8,645.35 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n Just one day after ZachXBT shared the link to the donation wallet address on Twitter, he exceeded the $1 million mark in contributions.<\/p>\n In October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that the French authorities had utilized ZachXBT\u2019s research to charge five people on suspicion<\/a> of stealing $2.5 million worth of nonfungible tokens through phishing scams.<\/p>\n\n
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