Coinbase Hacker Taunts On-Chain Detective ZachXBT After Laundering $42 Million in Bitcoin
ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator known for exposing cryptocurrency fraud, has recently become the target of ridicule from the hacker behind the $300 million Coinbase hack.
In a statement on his personal Telegram channel, ZachXBT said that the hacker involved in the recent Coinbase data breach used Ethereum transactions to publicly mock him on-chain.
Using Ethereum's data import feature, the hacker sent a short message: “L bozo” — a slang term for loser — along with a link to a YouTube meme video showing NBA legend James Worthy smoking a cigar, as a satirical gesture.
Swap Over $42 Million from Bitcoin to Ethereum
Before posting the taunting message, the attacker moved approximately $42.5 million from Bitcoin to Ethereum via THORChain, a DeFi protocol that supports cross-chain asset swaps. According to data from Etherscan, the address marked “Fake_Phishing1158790” went on to transfer another 8,698 ETH (equivalent to over $22.6 million) just an hour after the message to ZachXBT.
The move comes as Coinbase confirmed last week that more than 69,000 of its users were affected by a data breach that began in December 2024 but was only discovered on May 11, 2025.
Hackers Demand $20 Million Ransom – Coinbase Refuses
According to a report from the Maine Attorney General’s Office, the attack involved bribing overseas customer support staff to obtain user information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails. After being discovered, the hackers demanded a ransom of $20 million in Bitcoin to keep the user data from being made public. Coinbase declined the request and instead offered a reward of the same amount to anyone who provided information leading to the perpetrators’ arrest.
Coinbase’s financial losses are currently estimated to range from $180 million to $400 million, including the cost of handling the incident, enhancing security, and compensating affected customers.
ZachXBT – the “gatekeeper” of the crypto community
ZachXBT is an anonymous but influential figure in the crypto community, with many investigative articles that have exposed scam projects, fraudulent behavior, and serious hacks.
In 2023, he was sued for defamation, but the community donated more than $1 million to support his legal case – including contributions from Changpeng Zhao (CZ) of Binance and Justin Sun of Tron. In February 2024, venture capital firm Paradigm officially invited ZachXBT to be an advisor in handling security crisis situations.
Concerns over dire consequences
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has issued a dire warning about the consequences of the Coinbase data breach, saying it “could lead to the death of users,” as high-value crypto holders could become targets for kidnapping. He also called on authorities to tighten KYC regulations and criminally prosecute exchange executives for negligence in protecting users.
Summary:
The Coinbase hack not only caused huge financial losses, but also sparked direct on-chain war of words between hackers and tracers. As threat actors become more sophisticated and bold, the responsibility to protect users is becoming a heavy burden for global cryptocurrency exchanges.