Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, played a crucial role in assisting law enforcement in apprehending the suspect behind the ZKasino scam. The initial outrage from the community prompted Binance’s Crime Compliance and Investigations team to launch an inquiry into the fraudulent gambling platform. Through a combination of on-chain tracking and open-source intelligence methods, the researchers were able to locate the attacker. Binance then provided law enforcement with the identity of the account holder responsible for the fraud. As a result, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested the 26-year-old suspect on April 29 and seized assets worth over 11.4 million euros ($12.2 million), including cryptocurrency, real estate, and luxury cars. This arrest is the first in the ZKasino fraud case, where investors lost a minimum of $33 million in digital assets. Binance successfully froze a significant amount of the stolen cryptocurrency after receiving a warrant against the attacker’s accounts. The investigations team at Binance has also been working closely with Dutch authorities, using on-chain forensics to trace the flow of funds and understand the malicious smart contracts used by ZKasino. The community played an important role in the arrest, with crypto investors and analysts assisting in identifying the suspect. Binance confirmed that the scammer behind the rug pull was indeed Derivatives Ape, the pseudonymous ZKasino builder. Despite the arrest, the stolen funds are still being moved on-chain, suggesting the involvement of multiple other attackers. Binance’s Investigations team will continue to collaborate with authorities to ensure the recovery of the stolen funds.
Binance's Crucial Involvement in Apprehending ZKasino Fraud Suspect