Investigators have linked a determine within the $30 million ZKasino alleged rip-off to a recent cryptocurrency challenge branded WhiteRock (WHITE), on-chain analyst ZachXBT reported in a June 16 post on X.
WhiteRock surfaced in December 2024 with an nameless crew, overstated consumer counts, and unverifiable claims a few USDX reserve, researchers at Blokiments wrote in a memo dated June 13.
Proof
ZachXBT added recent proof by discovering an influencer that obtained fee from a WhiteRock-tied pockets, which additionally aggregates deposits traceable to ZKasino’s treasury.
Separate transfers in February and March present similar quantities exiting a ZKasino pockets to an instantaneous trade and coming into WhiteRock addresses moments later by means of Monero bridges.
A possible private hyperlink tightens the overlap. An tackle that deployed WhiteRock’s contracts exchanged messages with [email protected], an e-mail tied to a Chess.com account utilizing the deal with “IldarTheGrandMaster.”
Ildar Ilham, often known as “Prometheus” within the ZKasino episode, has used the alias “Goedel” throughout a number of developer channels.
ZachXBT acknowledged that the match “confirms a minimum of one ZKasino founder directs WhiteRock exercise.” He urged centralized venues MEXC and Gate.io to delist WHITE or carry out deeper vetting.
He argued that prior conduct in ZKasino and different tasks tied to their crew, corresponding to Syncus and Zigzag, reveals a sample of elevating capital, biking funds by means of privateness rails, and abandoning acknowledged roadmaps.
Court docket dates for Ilham and two different ZKasino co-founders, Elham Nourzai and Lior Ben Zakan, haven’t but appeared on Dutch public dockets. WhiteRock’s web site lists no company entity, and challenge directors didn’t reply e-mail queries despatched by ZachXBT on Sunday.
ZKasino loss and laundering paths
ZKasino raised greater than $30 million price of Ethereum (ETH) throughout a 2024 presale, then diverted user assets as an alternative of constructing the marketed playing platform.
The Dutch monetary crime company FIOD arrested the co-founder, identified on-line as “Derivatives Monke,” in April 2024 and seized associated infrastructure.
Two associates, Ilham and Lior Ben Zakan, operated from the Center East at the moment, based on court docket filings cited by ZachXBT.
Transactions tracked after Nourzai’s late 2024 launch present the stolen ETH shifting by means of zkSync, Starknet, Solana, and a number of EVM-compatible chains.
Pockets house owners routed funds to over-the-counter brokers, swapped tokens for Monero through instantaneous exchanges, and punted perpetual futures on Hyperliquid. These steps broke asset provenance whereas funneling capital towards new ventures.