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ZachXBT Says He Fronted $349,700 to Infiltrate Alleged Bybit Laundering Network

ZachXBT says he posed as a client and risked $349,700 USDC to trace funds linked to the Bybit hack. The FBI’s separate attribution names North Korea, while claims about an alleged intermediary network remain unconfirmed.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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On-chain investigator ZachXBT says he spent $349,700 in USDC posing as a client of an alleged laundering operation to trace funds connected to the February 2025 Bybit hack. His account, reported by The Block and Decrypt, describes a cluster of more than $12 million in Bybit-linked assets and a reported 442,000 USDT freeze. Those details remain allegations about an intermediary network; the FBI separately attributed the Bybit theft itself to North Korea.

How ZachXBT says he got inside the operation

According to The Block, ZachXBT began looking into the activity after seeing more than 15 accounts in public Telegram and Discord groups seeking help with orders involving stolen funds after the Bybit exploit. He posed as a customer and funded a new Ethereum address with $349,700 USDC to transact with an operator using the pseudonym “Jimmy Green.” The amount was investigative money he said he put at risk, not money recovered for victims.

Decrypt dates the initial funding to March 6, 2025, and reports that ZachXBT completed several further transactions to build trust. He said Jimmy later discussed moving Bybit funds for the DPRK before that movement occurred and described activity in Hong Kong and mainland China. These are details from ZachXBT’s account as reported by the publications, not independently established findings about Jimmy’s identity or the operation’s structure.

In March, Jimmy reportedly supplied an address for exchanging USDC into USDT on Tron. ZachXBT said that address had received gas from a wallet directly traceable to Bybit exploit funds and appeared on Bybit’s public exploit blacklist. Decrypt reproduced his description of the personal risk: “For this case, I fronted $349.7K and lost 5% on each order, with no guarantee Jimmy wouldn’t disappear with the funds, and an unknown amount of personal risk from dealing with the syndicate.”

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What he says the on-chain trail showed

ZachXBT reportedly connected a bridge screenshot Jimmy sent on March 12 to a THORChain order created within minutes, matching the amounts and timing. He also said three Solana addresses supplied by Jimmy helped him identify a cluster of more than $12 million in Bybit exploit funds moving across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Tron. The Block and Decrypt reported that Tether later froze 442,000 USDT linked to the cluster.

A separate BlockSec tracker entry records a USDT freeze event on March 14, 2025 for one displayed Ethereum address. That address-level record is narrower than the broader cluster claim and does not, by itself, establish the cluster’s total value.

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ZachXBT also reportedly said Jimmy’s reference to roughly $300,000 frozen in 2024 matched 332,000 USDC from the Poloniex exploit. Another claimed check involved about $3 million in fraud proceeds that reportedly traced to a Huione Guarantee hot wallet. The Block and Decrypt attribute both points to ZachXBT’s account; they are not independent findings about the alleged network.

What is official—and what remains an allegation

On February 26, 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) stated that North Korea was responsible for stealing approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from Bybit on or about February 21, 2025. The FBI calls the activity “TraderTraitor” and said the actors rapidly converted some stolen assets into Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains. Read the FBI/IC3 announcement.

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That notice supports the official DPRK attribution for the theft. It does not establish the identity or full scale of the Chinese intermediary network alleged by ZachXBT, or validate every detail of his infiltration account. The Block reported that ZachXBT said he shared findings with law enforcement immediately but delayed public disclosure because the investigation was sensitive. The available reporting does not provide a public case number, law enforcement confirmation of the specific alleged network, or a court finding about its members.

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How to read the reported figures

  • $349,700 USDC: the amount ZachXBT said he fronted to pose as a client, according to 2026 reporting by The Block and Decrypt.
  • About 5% per order: the loss ZachXBT said he accepted on each order, as reported by those outlets.
  • More than $12 million: the value of a Bybit-linked cluster he said he identified; it is a tracing claim, not a court-established accounting.
  • 442,000 USDT: the amount The Block and Decrypt reported Tether froze in connection with the cluster.
  • More than $1 billion: a laundering volume attributed to ZachXBT in reporting by The Block and Cointelegraph. It is an allegation, not an independently verified total.
  • $75 million in freezes since 2022: the amount ZachXBT reportedly said he helped action in DPRK-related incidents, as reported by The Block and Decrypt.
  • Approximately $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit: the amount in the FBI’s February 2025 official attribution of the theft to North Korea.

Decrypt reproduced ZachXBT’s summary: “Posing as a client, I gathered intel that helped action freezes for the Feb 2025 Bybit exploit and attribute illicit activity onchain.” The distinction matters: tracing and freezing assets linked to a theft can provide useful investigative leads, but they do not by themselves prove who controlled every address or establish criminal responsibility in court.

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