Update (Feb. 26 at 7:33 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Meteora.
Polymarket users who bet that trading platform Axiom would be the focus of an insider trading probe by on‑chain investigator ZachXBT were rewarded after the investigator published his findings to his 977,500 followers on X.
In a Thursday post, ZachXBT named Axiom employee Broox Bauer and others, alleging they had conducted insider trading “since early 2025.” He said Bauer used internal tools “to lookup sensitive user details to insider trade by tracking private wallet activity,” and shared audio clips in which an individual he identified as Bauer claimed he could track user wallet activity.
Axiom responded on X that it was “shocked and disappointed” and said it had removed access to the implicated tools and would continue investigating and hold offending parties responsible. “This does not represent us as a team, we have always tried to put the user first,” Axiom wrote.
Leading up to the reveal, Polymarket users wagered heavily on who ZachXBT would expose, placing nearly $40 million in bets. One user who placed multiple bets on a related contract profited by about $400,000. More than $9.7 million was traded on the platform’s “Which crypto company will ZachXBT expose for insider trading?” contract, with many bettors winning.
Before ZachXBT’s announcement, many on Polymarket had speculated the target would be decentralized liquidity platform Meteora. A Meteora spokesperson told Cointelegraph the episode “was a reminder of why transparency and strong operational controls matter” and said the platform had “evolved a lot” since 2025.
The episode comes amid broader scrutiny of prediction markets in the U.S. Last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig said the CFTC has “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets, rejecting state-level attempts to regulate platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi and warning that state challenges would be litigated.
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