Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has claimed that he has been subjected to what he considers to be borderline harassment by the Criminal Investigation (CI) Unit of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS has reached out to him seeking his assistance in blockchain investigations, but ZachXBT believes that they have overstepped his personal boundaries in their pursuit of his help in solving blockchain crimes.
In a post on March 6, ZachXBT explained that while he has been willing to assist victims and support law enforcement by providing necessary information, he feels that the U.S. law enforcement agency has gone too far in their attempts to secure his cooperation. According to ZachXBT, they have gone as far as showing up in person at previous addresses, contacting his personal email using private data, and even sending mail despite his public contact information being readily available.
ZachXBT shared an image of an email from an IRS-CI special agent, praising him for his impressive work and requesting his assistance in blockchain investigations. The special agent acknowledged his own limited knowledge in the blockchain industry and expressed admiration for ZachXBT’s expertise in using blockchain tracing tools.
ZachXBT views the multiple forms of contact as a clear lack of professionalism on the part of the IRS. This incident comes after he declined to assist holders of the Complex (SIMPLE) memecoin, which was created on the Base blockchain and later shut down by its developers on April 4. He explained that he prefers not to spend significant amounts of time helping individuals who choose to invest in meme coins rather than focusing on actual victims.
Meanwhile, the IRS has been actively collaborating with prominent individuals and companies in the blockchain tracing field for some time. In May 2023, IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee emphasized the value of their partnership with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, stating that their efforts to investigate crypto-related crimes would be nearly impossible without the infrastructure and tools provided by the collaboration. The IRS-CI estimated that it had seized $10 billion worth of cryptocurrency since it began investigating various crimes involving digital assets.
Overall, ZachXBT’s allegations highlight the complex relationship between blockchain investigators and law enforcement agencies, as well as the growing importance of blockchain analytics in combating crypto-related crimes.