Well-known crypto executives across the globe have donated to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, aiding in his legal defense against a defamation lawsuit broughtby someone he accused of fraud.
ZachXBT is known to his 412,900 followers on Twitter for his investigative work in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector.
On June 16, Jeffrey Huang, known as MachiBigBrother on Twitter, stated he has filed a defamation lawsuit against ZachXBT accusing him of damaging his reputation through false allegations.
Huang was referring to an an article published by ZachXBT in June 2022 titled “22,000 ETH Embezzled and Over Ten Projects Failed: The Story of Machi Big Brother (Jeff Huang)”, where he accused Huang of launching over “over 10 failed pump and dump tokens and NFT projects.”
Responding to the lawsuit in a series of tweets on June 17, ZachXBT called the lawsuit “baseless” and an “attempt to chill free speech.” He noted that the legal fees could “easily exceed” $1 million and set up a donation wallet address for assistance.
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.
All leftover funds will be returned on a pro rata basis to contributors.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 16, 2023
He added that the lawsuit “is sickening,” but he “knew one day” it would happen, as that is “the price” of telling the truth.
“The price of telling the truth is sometimes people dislike what you say” he tweeted.
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Just one day later, on June 18, the total amount of donations surpassed $1 million.
CEO of crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao praised ZachXBT in a tweet telling him to “keep the industry transparent,” along with noting that Binance will “contribute $50K” to his legal fees fundraiser.
#Binance will contribute $50k. Keep up the fight. Keep the industry transparent.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 17, 2023
Jesse Powell, co-founder of crypto exchange Kraken, althanked ZachXBT for “all that” he does, stating he would be donating 10 ETH (approx. $17,294.30).
In for 10 ETH. Thanks for all that you do. Good luck.
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) June 18, 2023
Meanwhile, Polygon’s founder Sandeep Nailwal tweeted that ZachXBT is the “reason web3 is alive and flourishing,” stating that he will be donating 5 Ether (approx. $8,645.35).
Cointelegraph previously reported in October 2022 that the French authorities had utilized ZachXBT’s research to charge five people on suspicion of stealing $2.5 million worth of nonfungible tokens (NFT) via phishing scams.
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