Prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT has issued a public warning about a new cryptocurrency project, WhiteRock (WHITE). He is concerned that it may be connected to the $30 million Zkasino exit scam and has written an on-chain analysis to elaborate on his reasons for thinking so. In that analysis, he shares what he sees as troubling connections between WhiteRock and some people who are either part of or were previously associated with this apparent scam. The Zkasino Collapse: A Brief Recap Launched in 2023, Zkasino was highly anticipated as a blockchain gambling platform. Its presale raised upwards of $30 million from the crypto community, with promises of an ambitious and revolutionary gambling platform built on blockchain technology. However, by early 2024, it became clear that things were not progressing as promised. Instead of using the funds to develop Zkasino, it seems the team behind the platform might have been cashing out and working on something else. At least, that’s what the evidence to date suggests. This resulted in a criminal investigation in the Netherlands. In April 2024, Dutch authorities (FIOD) apprehended Elham Nourzai—crypto circles know him as @Derivatives_Ape—and took control of assets connected to Zkasino. Other core team members, including Ildar Ilham (@XBT_Prometheus) and Lior Ben Zakan (@Sigman0x), were said to live in the Middle East, out of reach of European regulators. In late 2024, Nourzai was released from prison, and investigators began scrutinizing a suspicious laundering pattern that involved the embezzled Zkasino funds. Initial blockchain analysis had already indicated that the stolen funds were being chain-hopped—transferred across various blockchains, including not just ZkSync and Starknet but also several EVM-compatible networks and Solana. The laundering trails themselves seemed to indicate three primary target strategies. First on that list was a method involving cashing out via over-the-counter brokers. Those particular blockchain diving sessions had also revealed some not-so-hard-to-see asset conversions, with the launders shifting from the more-traceable path they were already on to Monero (XMR), a cryptocurrency built specifically for privacy. WhiteRock Emerges with Troubling Parallels WhiteRock (WHITE) softly opened in late 2024. Despite an unassuming start, the blockchain project soon drew the attention of analysts—and not in a good way. ZachXBT, a prominent blockchain analyst, illuminated in a recent thread the many things that seemed questionable about WhiteRock right from the get-go. Here are several immediate red flags he identified. An unidentifiable group of individuals with no credible past of development or business, claims of imaginary partnerships, many hidden side wallets fed by instant exchanges, user figures and platform activity that are much too good to be true, and a total absence of transparency about their USDX token reserves. More damning evidence was revealed by further scrutiny. A known influencer was identified by ZachXBT as being paid from a WhiteRock marketing wallet. The payment originated from a wallet address (0xfd978bcb706133403cf2fe0e07d872342c81266b) that was later shown to have direct on-chain ties to wallets handling Zkasino’s embezzled funds. 1/ Community Alert: At least one team member from the $30M Zkasino exit scam appears to be involved with the project @WhiteRock_Fi $WHITE due to onchain transactions linking both projects and a personal email address. pic.twitter.com/rZSvLM98fR — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 16, 2025 The analysis indicated that the assets of the two projects were mixing together—although the exact nature of the relationship involved still wasn’t clear. Between February and March 2025, funds from Zkasino were traced to instant exchanges, where they were rapidly converted to other cryptocurrencies, and then to wallets controlled by WhiteRock, which received equivalent sums just after—again via instant exchange. Digital Footprints Lead to Familiar Faces In yet another revelation, ZachXBT discovered that a personal email address tied to dealings with the WhiteRock deployer was goedel014@gmail.com. Public data was then cross-referenced, and it turned out that the email was linked to a Chess.com account belonging to someone named “IldarTheGrandMaster.” This pointed to Ildar Ilham, a known member of the Zkasino team who had previously operated under the alias @XBT_Prometheus. It looks like Ilham might be using the pseudonym “Goedel” within WhiteRock, which further solidifies our suspicions that the same people responsible for Zkasino and other nefarious ventures like Syncus and Zigzag are trying to restart operations under a new brand. ZachXBT has asked centralized exchanges such as MEXC and Gate.io to rethink their plans to list WHITE and to conduct due diligence of a much stricter sort than what seems to be the current norm. He made the point that the risk of investors getting caught up in another rug pull is alarmingly high. That risk, he suggested, is amplified by how closely connected the WHITE project is with past scams. Currently, the larger crypto community is closely observing events. The legal process linked to Zkasino remains in flux, but many expect that its principals— Ildar Ilham, Elham Nourzai, and Lior Ben Zakan—will at some point be brought to account for the swindle they’ve carried out, which has harmed thousands of investors for whom they’ve conduced a kind of financial therapy. Meanwhile, the essential behind-the-scenes work that ZachXBT has done stands as a strong warning. Just because some new faces in crypto have appeared doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re new players to the game. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. 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