ZachXBT Exposes Axiom Employee's "Genius" Plan to Front-Run Your Trades Using Internal Data

Blockchain detective ZachXBT just dropped another bombshell investigation, this time targeting Axiom Exchange and exposing what might be the most brazen case of insider trading abuse in crypto this year. The TL;DR: a senior employee allegedly used internal company tools to stalk user wallets and front-run trades. Spoiler alert — it didn't end well for them. Meet Broox Bauer, Axiom's senior business development employee based in New York. According to ZachXBT's investigation, Bauer allegedly abused internal dashboards to access private user data — including linked wallet addresses — and shared this goldmine with a small group to track prominent crypto influencers' trading patterns. Because nothing says "professional business development" like stalking your users' wallets for alpha. The audio evidence is particularly damning. In recordings shared by ZachXBT, someone alleged to be Bauer claims he can track "any Axiom user" by referral code, wallet address, or UID to "find out anything to do with that person." He describes starting with 10-20 wallets and gradually scaling up activity "so it does not look that suspicious." Pro tip: when you're worried about looking suspicious, you probably are. Axiom, a Y Combinator Winter 2025 company that has generated over $390 million in revenue to date, initially tried damage control. They posted that they were "shocked and disappointed" that someone abused internal customer support tools. The classic corporate "we had no idea" response that's about as believable as guaranteed 8% monthly returns. They've since removed access to the tools and promised to investigate. The strategy was textbook front-running with a crypto twist. The group allegedly focused on traders known for accumulating large memecoin positions from private wallets before promoting tokens publicly. By identifying previously undisclosed wallets through Axiom's internal data, they could monitor accumulation patterns and position themselves ahead of anticipated price pumps. It's like having the answers to a test, except the test is other people's money and the grade is how much you can steal. ZachXBT traced funds from what he identified as Bauer's primary wallet to several centralized exchange deposit addresses. However, he cautioned that without access to Axiom's internal logs, establishing high-confidence proof of insider trading from onchain data alone remains challenging. Still, the circumstantial evidence is thicker than a memecoin whitepaper. The timing couldn't be more perfect for the investigation. A Polymarket prediction market about which firm would be exposed generated over $30 million in volume this week. Axiom's odds shifted from trailing candidate to frontrunner at 35%, ahead of Meteora at 26%. Nothing like degens betting on which exchange is corrupt while the corruption is actively being exposed. Here's what this really represents: the normalization of surveillance capitalism in crypto. When your trading platform has tools to "find out anything" about users and employees feel comfortable bragging about it on recordings, we've crossed a line that shouldn't exist in the first place. The fact that this required a ZachXBT investigation to surface rather than internal controls should terrify anyone using centralized platforms. The lesson is simple: if you're trading on platforms where employees can access your private wallet data, assume they will. Not might — will. Because in an industry where billion-dollar hacks happen monthly and insider trading cases multiply quarterly, trusting centralized platforms with your financial privacy isn't just naive — it's financially reckless.