The Crucial Role Binance Played in Capturing the Suspect Behind the ZKasino Scam

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, played a crucial role in assisting law enforcement in apprehending the suspect behind the ZKasino scam. The investigation began after widespread community outrage over the fraudulent gambling platform. Binance’s Crime Compliance and Investigations team utilized on-chain tracking and open-source intelligence methods to locate the attacker. Once the suspect responsible for the smart contracts was identified, Binance promptly alerted law enforcement, leading to the arrest of the 26-year-old individual on April 29. The authorities seized assets worth over 11.4 million euros, including cryptocurrencies, real estate, and luxury cars. This arrest represents the first breakthrough in the ZKasino fraud case, which resulted in investors losing at least $33 million in digital assets. The platform initially promised investors a refund within 30 days, but Dutch authorities discovered that the smart contract never intended to return the funds. Binance successfully froze a significant amount of the stolen crypto after law enforcement issued a warrant against the attacker’s accounts. The Binance investigations team has been actively assisting Dutch authorities in analyzing the flow of funds and understanding the structure of the malicious ZKasino smart contracts. The community also played a crucial role in identifying the suspect, with popular crypto analyst FatMan and others suspecting the pseudonymous ZKasino builder Derivatives Ape as the scammer. Despite the arrest, funds associated with the scam continue to move on-chain, indicating the involvement of multiple other attackers. Binance’s investigations team will continue working closely with authorities to ensure the return of stolen funds to investors.