Crypto detective goes undercover in Chinese syndicate laundering $1 billion

Zachary Wolk, a blockchain investigator popularly known as ZachXBT, working as an Incident Response Advisor at Paradigm crypto firm, has detailed how he posed as a client to infiltrate a Chinese organized crime syndicate that has moved more than $1 billion tied to multiple blockchain exploits.

On October 5, ZachXBT deconstructed his undercover operation that helped disrupt a sophisticated laundering network that is connected with the Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group operating on behalf of the North Korean government.

In a bid to gain trust with this syndicate, the crypto investigator risked $349,700 of his own capital across 15 identified suspicious accounts. Specifically, he initiated test transactions, paid standard 5% fees, and traced illicit flows across major blockchains.