Prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT has uncovered evidence linking WhiteRock Finance project to the notorious $33 million ZKasino exit scam, exposing what appears to be an elaborate money laundering operation.
This scheme was designed to legitimize stolen funds through a seemingly legitimate real-world asset tokenization platform.
The investigation reveals direct on-chain connections between WhiteRock’s marketing wallets, ZKasino’s stolen presale funds, and a personal email address that ties key team members from both projects together.
What is ZKasino?
The ZKasino scandal originally erupted in April 2024 when the blockchain gambling project abruptly diverted $33 million worth of investor funds to Lido’s staking protocol instead of returning them as promised to presale participants.
The scheme led to the arrest of team member Elham Nourzai by Dutch financial crime authorities, while alleged co-conspirators Ildar Ilham and Lior Ben Zakan reportedly fled to the Middle East.
Following Nourzai’s release in late 2024, the stolen funds began moving through a sophisticated laundering network that employed chain-hopping across ZkSync, Starknet, EVM, and Solana networks.
Proceeds were converted to Monero through instant exchanges, cashed out via OTC brokers, and traded on perpetual platforms like Hyperliquid.
ZachXBT’s investigation reveals that WhiteRock emerged in late 2024 with immediate red flags, including an anonymous team without verifiable history, fabricated partnership claims, and funding sources linked to instant exchanges commonly used for money laundering.
The investigator traced funds from ZKasino’s stolen treasury directly to WhiteRock’s marketing wallet, which was subsequently used to pay influencers for promotional content.
Most damning, ZachXBT discovered that a personal email address associated with WhiteRock’s deployer wallet belongs to an account named “IldarTheGrandMaster” on Chess.com.
This directly links the project to Ildar Ilham, one of ZKasino’s alleged masterminds, who operates under the alias “Prometheus.”
From Presale Scam to RWA Revolution: The ZKasino Money Laundering Scheme
The ZKasino exit scam represents one of the most brazen betrayals of investor trust in recent crypto history. It began as a promising blockchain gambling platform that raised over $30 million through presales before revealing its true nature.
The project initially promised participants that their bridged Ethereum would be returnable, but when launch day arrived on April 20, 2024, ZKasino dramatically altered the terms.
Instead of honoring withdrawal requests, the team converted all 10,515 ETH to ZKAS tokens at a heavily discounted rate of $0.055, subject to a punitive 15-month vesting schedule that effectively trapped investor funds.
The deception deepened when investigators discovered that ZKasino’s supposed revolutionary blockchain was merely an Arbitrum Nitro chain lacking the zero-knowledge technology that formed the core of its marketing promises.
Following the collapse and subsequent arrests, the stolen funds underwent sophisticated laundering through multiple blockchain networks and financial instruments.
This multi-vector laundering strategy, explained by ZachXBT, mirrors tactics seen in other major crypto crimes.
Recent cases include Australian authorities uncovering a $190 million laundering network that mixed illicit crypto with legitimate business income and European investigations into OKX’s alleged role in laundering $100 million from the Bybit hack.
How Stolen Millions Funded WhiteRock’s Success Story
WhiteRock, launched on December 24, 2024, positioned itself as a revolutionary platform that would bring traditional markets onto the blockchain.
The platform quickly gained traction by promising to democratize access to traditionally exclusive wealth-building opportunities through its native WHITE token and USDX stablecoin.
However, ZachXBT’s investigation reveals that WhiteRock’s impressive growth metrics and partnership claims were built on fraudulent foundations.
The project’s marketing campaigns, funded directly through wallets containing ZKasino’s stolen funds, promoted fake partnerships with major financial institutions.
StoneX publicly denied WhiteRock’s partnership claims, while supposed collaborations with BlackRock and First Citizens Bank lacked any verifiable evidence.
The project’s most audacious claim involved rumors of a partnership with Saudi Aramco through Ripple to tokenize oil supply chains, which drove WHITE token prices up 110% on May 30 despite having no factual basis.
ZachXBT has called for major exchanges, including MEXC and Gate.io, to delist WHITE token and conduct enhanced due diligence.
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