Founded in 2024 by Henry Zhang, known as Mist, and Preston Ellis, also referred to as Cal, Axiom is gaining attention due to insider trading allegations. As a member of Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 cohort, Axiom is a Solana-based crypto trading platform that has reported over $390 million in revenue, according to DefiLlama.
Currently, Axiom is embroiled in controversy following allegations by blockchain analyst ZachXBT that Broox Bauer, a senior business development employee, misused internal dashboards to access sensitive user data, including wallet addresses. This unauthorized access allegedly enabled Bauer to share data with a small group that tracked prominent crypto influencers’ trades.
While Axiom has expressed shock and disappointment, stating that access to the tools used has been revoked, the investigation into these claims is still ongoing.
Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleged that Broox Bauer, a New York-based senior business development employee at Axiom, used internal dashboards to access sensitive user information, including linked wallet addresses. ZachXBT said Bauer claimed he could track any Axiom user by referral code, wallet address or UID and find out anything to do with that person. ZachXBT alleged Bauer shared data with a small group that mapped trades of prominent crypto influencers, and that the alleged strategy focused on traders known for accumulating large memecoin positions. The investigator also alleged Bauer shared screenshots showing private wallet data tied to specific traders and that a Google Sheet compiled wallet addresses for multiple traders.
Axiom said it was “surprised and disappointed to hear that someone on our team abused internal customer support tools to look up user wallets.” Axiom added, “We have removed access to these tools and will continue to investigate and hold the offending parties responsible.” The company said there was little to no monitoring or access controls in place to mitigate this abuse and that the extent of data granted to employees in an easily accessible dashboard was unusual for business development roles. Axiom said, “This does not represent us as a team, we have always tried to put the user first. We’ll share updates on our twitter as we learn more.”
The broader context for the Axiom insider trading allegations includes established prosecutorial attention to crypto-related wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is cited in reporting on crypto cases. Betting markets on Polymarket had priced in around a 30% chance of Axiom being named before the investigation became public. Separately, the Ethereum Foundation published a roadmap (the strawmap) that outlines seven planned hard forks through 2029 and includes goals such as faster layer-1 finality and very high throughput. The strawmap also discusses post-quantum cryptography and built-in privacy via shielded ETH transfers.
In brief recap, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleged that a senior Axiom employee used internal dashboards to access sensitive user data and shared that data with a small group mapping trades of prominent crypto influencers. Axiom has said access to the implicated tools was removed and that it is investigating the matter; it is not clear how much, if any, financial benefit resulted from the alleged conduct and the investigation remains ongoing.
