DeFi Project 'WhiteRock' Founder Reportedly Arrested… Suspected Involvement in ZKasino Scam

Investigative authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have reportedly arrested Ildar Ilham, the founder of the decentralized finance (DeFi) project WhiteRock Finance, on charges of fraud. Ilham is alleged to have been involved in an investment scam via the controversial decentralized gambling platform ZKasino, amounting to approximately $30 million (about ₩40.8 billion) last year.

On-chain analyst ZachXBT stated on the 3rd (local time) on his X (formerly Twitter) account that “Ilham's arrest is directly linked to the ZKasino-related investigation.” ZKasino, at its launch in April 2024, promised users an airdrop of its native token, but even after a year, this has yet to be fulfilled.

Following related media reports, WhiteRock’s native token 'WHITE', which had been trading at $0.00065, plunged more than 40% in a single day, dropping below $0.0004.

In response, WhiteRock stated, “The reports of Ilham’s arrest are clearly false information,” and added, “Ilham was not arrested and is currently continuing to work normally in preparation for the product launch.”