Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleges Axiom employee conducted insider trading

Community Information

AXIOM EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF ALLEGEDLY INSIDER TRAINING BY ZACHXBT: Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT stated a senior worker at onchain buying and selling platform Axiom Alternate allegedly abused inside entry to person information to trace non-public wallets and probably commerce memecoins utilizing inside info. In a thread posted to X, ZachXBT stated Broox Bauer, a New York-based senior enterprise growth worker at Axiom, used inside dashboards to lookup delicate person info — together with linked pockets addresses — and shared that information with a small group that mapped trades of outstanding crypto influencers. Axiom, based in 2024 by Mist and Cal and a member of Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 cohort, has generated greater than $390 million in income up to now, in accordance with the investigator. ZachXBT stated he was retained to research allegations that inside instruments had been being misused. He didn’t say who retained him. In audio clips shared within the thread, an individual stated to be Bauer allegedly claims he can observe “any Axiom person” by referral code, pockets deal with or UID and “discover out something to do with that particular person.” In the identical recording, he describes initially researching 10–20 wallets and progressively rising exercise “so it doesn’t look that suspicious.” — Oliver Knight Learn extra.

EF ‘STRAWMAP’ ROADMAP RELEASED: Ethereum Basis revealed a roadmap that reads prefer it’s constructing for the subsequent decade, not surviving the present quarter. The doc, referred to as the “strawmap” and launched Wednesday by EF researcher Justin Drake, lays out a plan for seven onerous forks by means of 2029. Arduous forks are network-wide software program upgrades that each node should implement or get left behind, making them the highest-stakes kind of change Ethereum could make. The plan is organized round 5 targets described as “north stars.” These embody a quicker layer 1 with transaction finality in seconds; dramatically larger layer-1 throughput able to round 10,000 transactions per second (known as “gigagas” scale); Layer-2 networks reaching “teragas” ranges of throughput, or roughly 10 million TPS; post-quantum cryptography and built-in privateness by means of shielded ETH transfers. — Shaurya Malwa Learn extra.

ROBINHOOD CHAIN TESTNET UPDATE: Robinhood’s (HOOD) testnet logged 4 million transactions within the first week its testnet chain went reside, the funding platform’s CEO Vlad Tenev stated on X. The Robinhood Chain, which focuses on tokenization and buying and selling, comes as centralized exchanges wish to construct their very own blockchain infrastructure even because the broader Ethereum ecosystem debates its future. “Builders are already constructing on our L2, designed for tokenized actual world property and onchain monetary providers,” Tenev wrote. Testnets are risk-free environments for builders to check code and experimental options earlier than the mainnet goes reside. The 2 phases of a community’s growth will be in comparison with a flight simulator and a industrial flight. The Robinhood Chain’s testnet has arrived in opposition to the backdrop of a bigger reckoning within the Ethereum world. Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin declared that the protocol’s long-held layer-2 (L2) rollup-centric roadmap “now not is smart,” arguing that many rollups have fallen in need of full decentralization and that Ethereum’s base layer is scaling quicker than anticipated. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.

OPENAI DIPS ITS TOES INTO SMART CONTRACTS: OpenAI is stepping deeper into crypto safety with the debut of EVMbench, a testing framework designed to measure how effectively synthetic intelligence can perceive and probably safe sensible contracts on Ethereum and related blockchains. Sensible contracts, the self-executing code deployed on blockchains like Ethereum, underpin decentralized exchanges, lending protocols and a variety of onchain monetary functions. As a result of these contracts are sometimes immutable as soon as deployed, vulnerabilities will be severe. EVMbench is OpenAI’s try to see whether or not trendy AI programs are as much as the duty of serving to forestall these points. In-built collaboration with crypto funding agency Paradigm, the benchmark attracts on real-world sensible contract vulnerabilities already uncovered by means of audits and safety competitions. The system measures efficiency throughout three core talents: figuring out safety bugs, exploiting these bugs in a managed surroundings and fixing the weak code with out breaking the contracts. OpenAI says the purpose is to determine a transparent commonplace for evaluating AI programs in blockchain safety, particularly as decentralized finance continues to safe billions of {dollars} in person funds. The stakes for sensible contracts are solely rising. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.

In Different Information

Meta, the U.S. tech big helmed by Fb creator Mark Zuckerberg, goals to enter the stablecoin house later this 12 months, pending profitable integration with a third-party agency to facilitate funds utilizing the dollar-pegged token know-how, in accordance with three individuals aware of the plans. The tech big, which owns Fb, WhatsApp and Instagram and has greater than 3 billion customers, needs to start its stablecoin integration early within the second half of this 12 months, stated one of many individuals, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the plans usually are not public. Meta is planning to combine a vendor to assist administer stablecoin-backed funds and implement a brand new pockets, the particular person stated. A second particular person stated that Meta has despatched out a request for product (RFP) to third-party corporations and talked about Stripe as a probable candidate for piloting the stablecoin. Introducing stablecoins would let Meta open cost rails to its huge person base whereas bypassing costly conventional banking charges, and probably place it as a world chief in “social commerce” and cross-border remittances. — Ian Allison Learn extra.
American Bitcoin (ABTC), the bitcoin mining firm backed by the household of President Donald Trump, stated it misplaced $59 million within the fourth quarter because the plummeting value of the biggest cryptocurrency eroded the worth of its holdings. The corporate, which went public in September, lower than a month earlier than the biggest cryptocurrency hit a file excessive, is pursuing a twin technique of mining and purchases, with roughly one-third of its $BTC coming from mining operations. The remaining comes from open-market purchases and strategic transactions, funded largely by promoting inventory. The corporate, which is 20% owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, generated $150.5 million by means of an at-the-market inventory providing in the course of the quarter. The capital allowed it to spice up its per-share bitcoin publicity by almost 50%. It now holds greater than 6,000 $BTC, it stated. In the course of the quarter, it mined bitcoin at a 53% gross margin, suggesting manufacturing prices had been considerably beneath spot costs at the same time as the value of the cryptocurrency fell. Income rose 22% from the third quarter. — Francesco Rodrigues & James Van Straten Learn extra.

Regulatory and Coverage

The Indiana state legislature approved public retirement and financial savings plans to realize publicity to digital property and spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), whereas affirming residents’ entry to crypto investments. Governor Mike Braun is predicted to signal HB 1042 into legislation inside the subsequent 10 days. Indiana joins at the very least seven different states, together with Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, which have moved to combine crypto-linked merchandise into public funding frameworks. Nearly half of the state governments within the U.S. are both on a path towards placing a few of their cash into crypto or have already got, with a lot of this pattern growing since President Donald Trump directed his administration to determine a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. — Olivier Acuna Learn extra.
The U.S. Treasury Division sanctioned a Russian firm, Operation Zero, and the people behind it, together with Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk, after accusing them of shopping for stolen cyber instruments for hundreds of thousands in cryptocurrency and reselling these applied sciences, which had been created for U.S. authorities use. The instruments had been stated to be initially stolen by an Australian nationwide, Peter Williams, who as soon as labored on the protection contractor that made the national-security centered software program “for the unique use of the U.S. authorities and choose allies.” Williams pleaded responsible final 12 months to promoting commerce secrets and techniques. “Treasury will proceed to work alongside the remainder of the Trump Administration to guard delicate American mental property and safeguard our nationwide safety,” stated Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in an announcement. Zelenyuk and the others are stated to be the primary individuals to be sanctioned underneath the Defending American Mental Property Act. — Jesse Hamilton Learn extra.