ZachXBT makes major claims against BAYC Whale, Machi Big Brother

ZachXBT, the NFT space’s favourite on-chain sleuth, is back with another bombshell report on Jeff Huang, AKA Machi Big Brother. This report, which ZachXBT wrote in a blog post rather than the usual Twitter threads, is the longest ZachXBT has ever produced. ZachXBT makes some shocking conclusions.

Let us see what the blockchain detective discovered.

First things first – who is Jeff Huang aka Machi Big Brother?

Jeff Huang, known in the NFT and crypto space as Machi Big Brother, is a tech entrepreneur and former musician based out of Taiwan. Huang first came to fame between 1991 and 1997 as part of the music trio L.A. Boyz. Then in 2003, he followed up with the hip hop group Machi. Huang, along with his partners, founded MACHI Entertainment. This is a hugely successful Asian hip-hop record label.

Huang’s first foray into the tech world came in 2015 when he founded 17 Media, which went on to become one of the most popular live-streaming apps in Asia. ZachXBT alleges that Huang began some deceitful practices with his first Crypto-related venture Mithril.

Machi Big Brother has been a prominent figure in the NFT industry since then. He is actually one of the most prominent holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.

What is ZachXBT’s Machi Big Brother report all about?

As we’ve come to expect from ZachXBT, a ton of evidence accompanies all of the claims and observations in the report. Blockchain transactions are not the only evidence, but also old whitepapers, Medium articles and messages on Discord and Telegram.

In the report, ZachXBT looks to paint a picture of Machi Big Brother’s pattern of behavior in the crypto space. ZachXBT focuses on Huang/Machi’s participation in “sketchy” projects that have shadowy team members and questionable ethics.

Formosa Financial: the source of ZachXBT’s 22K ETH embezzlement claims

Of the nine different Machi Big Brother projects that Zach XBT outlines in the report, Formosa Financial by far gets the most attention. It’s obvious why.

Formosa Financial is a platform that manages treasury for blockchain-based companies. Huang/Machi founded with Taiwanese politician George Hsieh and a number of other partners around early 2018. Significantly, Formosa was able to raise two separate funding rounds of 22,000 ETH for a total of 44,000 ETH ($23M) in April and May of 2021. ZachXBT discusses the most concerning aspect of Machi Big Brother/Formosa.

“Three weeks after the FMF ICO, Formosa Financial took a turn for the worse when two withdrawals of 11,000 ETH each were made from the Formosa Financial treasury wallet on June 22nd, 2018. Unbeknownst to investors, cofounder George Hsieh acting as the sole director of the company, pushing a share buyback through himself, executing on both sides.”

ZachXBT continues with various blockchain transaction data supposedly linking Machi Big Brother to the two withdrawals of 11K ETH.

How have people reacted to the report?

Predictably, Jeff Huang/Machi Big Brother came out on Twitter to refute the report. Even stating that he would sue ZachXBT if he was not anon for misinformation. He didn’t find much support on Twitter for his position.

To be certain, ZachXBT’s Web3 reputation speaks for itself. This means that the on-chain sleuth can be trusted in this space. It was clear that ZachXBT’s conclusion was correct. As an example, the majority of comments on ZachXBT’s and Machi Big Brother’s tweets were congratulating ZachXBT or ridiculing Machi Big Brother.

Many people will find this report convincing. It is important to remember that these reports are not conclusive evidence of wrongdoing by MachiBig Brother. On-chain evidence can be confusing because someone has to interpret it. The bottom line is that time will reveal if ZachXBT’s conclusions were correct or not, and if there are more details.