Across Protocol accused of $23M DAO vote manipulation and insider trading

Across Protocol’s core team has been accused of abusing the control process of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to send $23 million worth of tokens to a company connected to them, Risk Labs.

Layer-1 project Glue’s pseudonymous founder Ogle, raised the alarm on X, saying that Across Protocol founders manipulated the voting process.

https://t.co/QEIW5ZVYeP

— Hart Lambur (⛺️,⛺️) (@hal2001) June 27, 2025

The controversy centers on claims that the decentralized governance process was subverted. This has raised questions about the transparency and integrity of DAO operations in the crypto space. Ogle says that the governance proposals were orchestrated to benefit insiders.

According to him,  Across Protocol is a DAO in name only. He said, “Across Protocol – although a relatively well-respected entity in the crypto space, backed by true chads and OGs – appears to be one such faux DAO.”  

However, Hart Lambur, founder of Across Protocol and Risk Labs, firmly denied this claim. He said that Risk Labs is a Cayman Islands-based nonprofit with no shareholders.

DAO vote manipulation

The first proposal got a lot of support. It saw 13.1 million tokenholders voting in favor, approving the proposal with over 97% of the vote. 

However, the second, which asked for 50 million ACX tokens to be used as back-dated funding, only got enough votes to pass because of voting by insiders. Analysis shows that a lot of voting power came from wallets linked to Hart Lambur and the Risk Labs team members. This makes it hard to believe that the DAO’s decision-making processes are fair.

“Had the team not voted on this proposal, it wouldn’t have reached quorum, meaning that it wouldn’t have had enough votes to pass at all,” Ogle said. 

According to Ogle, the proposal did not guarantee that the money would be used for Across, and there were no official agreements between the two companies. He also said that a study of the on-chain shows that many members of the Risk Labs team secretly agreed with the plan.

“The second-largest voting wallet in the entire proposal, accounting for almost 14% of the total vote, was initially funded by Hart Lambur,” Ogle said.

In response, Hart Lambur strongly denied any wrongdoing. He pointed out that team members purchased tokens on their own and voted publicly. He disproved claims that voting is hidden by saying that all addresses involved are open to the public.

Hart Lambur also questioned the accuser’s credibility, pointing to potential conflicts of interest given Ogle’s ties to competing projects. However, it has brought an uproar in the community that disagrees with the legal governance process.

The 150 million tokens involved would be worth over $22 million after ACX lost around 9.3% of its value in the last 24 hours to trade at roughly $0.1360 at the time of writing.

Allegation of insider trading before the ACX Binance listing

After that repost, Lambur and Pellegrino got into a public fight because Pellegrino, the founder of LayerZero, said that Lambur may have been dealing with inside information by buying ACX tokens right before a surprise listing on Binance in December 2024.

“I am simply in SHOCK, total SHOCK, that Bryan Pellegrino is accusing me of insider trading when I can prove this is false,” Lambur responded. 

Lambur said that they had no idea Binance would list ACX. They found out on Twitter like everyone else. He said, “It was 2 am in the morning for me when Binance tweeted. Binance will verify this for you. We paid zero listing fee and had zero heads up.”

Pellegrino brought up Across’s recent tweet, in which he talked about months of communication with Binance’s listing team. He also said that most companies limit trading while important listing discussions are underway.

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