Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has claimed that he is facing what he considers to be borderline harassment from the Criminal Investigation (CI) Unit of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The CI Unit has been seeking his assistance in blockchain investigations, but ZachXBT believes that the agency has 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 taken their efforts too far. He alleges that they have appeared in person at his old addresses, contacted his personal emails using private data, and even sent him mail when he has public contact methods readily available.
One of the images shared by ZachXBT shows an email from an IRS-CI special agent, praising him for his impressive work and requesting his assistance in blockchain investigations. The special agent admits that his own skills in the blockchain industry are limited.
ZachXBT considers the multiple methods of contact to be a clear disregard for professionalism. This situation arises after ZachXBT declined to assist holders of the SIMPLE memecoin, which was minted on the Base blockchain before its developers abruptly shut down the project on April 4. He explains that he does not want to spend long periods helping people who willingly choose to invest in meme coins instead of helping actual victims.
Meanwhile, the IRS has been expanding its collaborations with well-known individuals and companies in the blockchain tracing field. In May 2023, IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee stated that their partnership with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has been invaluable. Lee emphasized that the unit’s efforts to investigate crypto-related crimes would be nearly impossible without the infrastructure and tools they now have access to. The IRS-CI estimates that it has seized $10 billion worth of cryptocurrency since it began investigating crimes involving digital assets.
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