Bitcoin
ZachXBT Declines Coldcard Investigation, Cites Unpaid Bounties
The blockchain investigator stepped back from the $88 million Coldcard theft case, pointing to years of unpaid work and unfulfilled payment promises from the cryptocurrency community.
Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT announced he would not participate in tracing the Coldcard hardware wallet breach, citing exhaustion from years of providing unpaid investigation work to an industry that seldom funds such labor. Rather than deflect, he detailed his reasoning publicly with specific examples.
ZachXBT framed his decision as a matter of redirecting effort toward ecosystems that value his work and away from communities he sees as non-donors. He stated he is no longer interested in complex cases pursued only for recognition rather than compensation.
To support his stance, ZachXBT cited two instances of being unpaid after successful investigations. In one case, a victim who had been scammed for $600,000 promised to pay whatever fee ZachXBT requested. After he spent over five hours tracing funds and recovered $96,000, the victim declined to compensate him, reportedly fearing tax scrutiny if filing a police report.
The piece characterizes his position not as indifference to victims of the $88 million Coldcard theft but as a critique of an ecosystem that consumes investigative labor while rarely funding the infrastructure that makes such work possible.
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