Network news
AXIOM EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH ALLEGED INSIDER TRAINING OF ZACHXBT: Blockchain expert ZachXBT said a senior employee at onchain trading platform Axiom Exchange allegedly abused internal access to user data to track private wallets and potentially trade memecoins using insider information. In a thread posted to X, ZachXBT said that Broox Bauer, a New York-based senior business development officer at Axiom, used internal dashboards to look up sensitive user information — including linked wallet addresses — and shared that data with a small group that mapped trades of prominent crypto influencers. Axiom, founded in 2024 by Mist and Cal and a member of Y Combinator’s winter 2025 cohort, has generated more than $390 million in revenue to date, according to the researcher. ZachXBT said he was retained to investigate allegations that internal tools were being misused. He did not say who retained him. In audio clips shared in the thread, someone said to be Bauer allegedly claims he can track “any Axiom user” by referral code, wallet address or UID and “find out what’s associated with that person.” In the same recording, he describes initially examining 10-20 wallets and gradually increasing the activity “so it doesn’t look so suspicious.” — Oliver Knight Read more.
EC ‘STRAWMAP’ ROADMAP RELEASED: The Ethereum Foundation released a roadmap that sounds like it’s building for the next decade without surviving the current quarter. The document, called the “straw map” and released Wednesday by EC researcher Justin Drake, lays out a plan for seven hard forks through 2029. Hard forks are network-wide software upgrades that each node must implement or be left behind, making them the most high-stakes type of change Ethereum can make. The plan is organized around five goals described as “north stars.” These include a faster layer 1 with final transaction in seconds; dramatically higher layer-1 throughput, capable of around 10,000 transactions per second (referred to as “gigagas” scale); Layer-2 networks that reach “teragas” levels of throughput, or about 10 million TPS; post-quantum cryptography and built-in privacy through shielded ETH transfers. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
ROBINHOOD CHAIN TESTNET UPDATE: Robinhood’s (HOOD) testnet logged 4 million transactions in the first week its testnet chain went live, investment platform CEO Vlad Tenev said on X. The Robinhood chain, which focuses on tokenization and trading, comes as centralized exchanges seek to build their own blockchain infrastructure, even as the broader Ethereum ecosystem debates its future. “Developers are already building on our L2, designed for real-world tokenized assets and onchain financial services,” Tenev wrote. Testnets are risk-free environments for developers to test code and experimental features before the mainnet goes live. The two stages of a network’s development can be compared to a flight simulator and a commercial flight. Robinhood Chain’s testnet has arrived on the back of a major accounting in the Ethereum world. Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin declared that the protocol’s long-standing layer-2 (L2) rollup-centric roadmap “no longer makes sense,” arguing that many rollups have failed to achieve full decentralization and that Ethereum’s base layer is scaling faster than expected. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
OPENAI DIVES ITS TOES IN SMART CONTRACTS: OpenAI is stepping deeper into crypto security with the debut of EVMbench, a testing framework designed to measure how well artificial intelligence can understand and potentially secure smart contracts on Ethereum and similar blockchains. Smart contracts, the self-executing code implemented on blockchains like Ethereum, support decentralized exchanges, lending protocols and a wide range of onchain financial applications. Because these contracts are typically immutable once implemented, vulnerabilities can be serious. EVMbench is OpenAI’s attempt to see if modern AI systems are up to the task of helping prevent these problems. Built in collaboration with crypto investment firm Paradigm, the benchmark draws on real smart contract vulnerabilities already uncovered through audits and security competitions. The system measures performance across three core capabilities: identify security flaws, exploit those flaws in a controlled environment, and fix the vulnerable code without breaking the contracts. OpenAI says the goal is to establish a clear standard for evaluating AI systems in blockchain security, especially as decentralized finance continues to secure billions of dollars in user funds. The stakes for smart contracts are only rising. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
In other news
- Meta, the US tech giant led by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, aims to enter the stablecoin space later this year, pending successful integration with a third-party firm to facilitate payments using the dollar-pegged token technology, according to three people familiar with the plans. The tech giant, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram and has more than 3 billion users, wants to begin its stablecoin integration early in the second half of this year, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not public. Meta plans to integrate a vendor to help manage stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new wallet, the person said. Another person said Meta has sent out a request for product (RFP) to third-party firms and mentioned Stripe as a likely candidate to pilot the stablecoin. Introducing stablecoins would let Meta open payment rails to its massive user base while bypassing expensive traditional bank fees and potentially positioning it as a global leader in “social commerce” and cross-border money transfers. — Ian Allison Read more.
- American Bitcoin (ABTC), the bitcoin mining company backed by President Donald Trump’s family, said it lost $59 million in the fourth quarter as the plunging price of the biggest cryptocurrency eroded the value of its holdings. The company, which went public in September, less than a month before the largest cryptocurrency hit record highs, is pursuing a dual strategy of mining and purchasing, with about a third of its BTC coming from mining. The rest comes from open market purchases and strategic transactions that are largely financed by selling shares. The company, which is 20% owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., raised $150.5 million through an initial public offering during the quarter. The capital allowed it to increase its bitcoin exposure per share by almost 50%. It now holds more than 6,000 BTC, it said. During the quarter, it mined bitcoin at a gross margin of 53%, suggesting that production costs were significantly below spot prices even as the price of the cryptocurrency fell. Revenue increased 22% compared to the third quarter. — Francesco Rodrigues and James Van Straten Read more.
Legislation and policy
- The Indiana state legislature authorized public pension and savings plans to gain exposure to digital assets and spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while confirming residents’ access to crypto investments. Governor Mike Braun is expected to sign HB 1042 into law within the next 10 days. Indiana joins at least seven other states, including Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, that have moved to integrate crypto-linked products into public investment frameworks. Nearly half of the state governments in the United States are either moving toward putting some of their money into crypto or have already done so, and much of this trend has developed since President Donald Trump directed his administration to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. — Olivier Acuna Read more.
- The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned a Russian company, Operation Zero, and the people behind it, including Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk, after accusing them of buying stolen cyber tools for millions in cryptocurrency and reselling those technologies created for use by U.S. authorities. The tools were reportedly originally stolen by an Australian citizen, Peter Williams, who once worked at the defense firm that made the national security-focused software “for the exclusive use of the US government and select allies.” Williams pleaded guilty last year to selling trade secrets. “Treasury will continue to work with the rest of the Trump administration to protect sensitive American intellectual property and protect our national security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Zelenyuk and the others are said to be the first people to be sanctioned under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act. — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
Calendar
- 24.-26. March 2026: Digital Asset Summit, New York City
- March 30-Apr. 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- 15-16 Apr. 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- 29.-30. April 2026: Token2049, Dubai
- 5.-7. May 2026: Consensus, Miami
- September 29-1. October 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- 7.-8. October 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- 3.-6. November 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- 15.-17. November 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
