← Audiusreviewed 2026-10-16 · 19 claims checked
Fact-check findings
What an automated fact-checker found when it re-read Audius against the sources the page cites. Only the most recent review is shown.
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These findings are produced by an automated reviewer, and its results vary between runs: the same page, checked three times on the same day, came back with 15%, 20% and 34% of its claims disputed, mostly because each run extracted a different number of claims. Treat what follows as leads, not rulings.
“Disputed” means the reviewer could not reconcile the claim with the evidence it cited. It does not mean the claim is false. “Unverifiable” means no reachable source settled it either way.
Nothing here changes the page on its own. A proposed correction is applied only after a human moderator approves it; until then the page reads as it did when reviewed.
disputed
7 claimsThe reviewer could not reconcile the claim with the evidence it cited. This is a lead, not a ruling that the claim is false.
- #3[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: July 2022 Governance Exploit
“with proceeds routed through Tornado Cash at address 0xa0c7bd318d69424603cbf91e9969870f21b8ab4 to obscure the trail”
reviewerStolen proceeds were routed through Tornado Cash at address 0xa0c7bd318d69424603cbf91e9969870f21b8ab4.The address cited is the attacker's wallet, not a Tornado Cash deposit/contract address, and as transcribed on the page it is also truncated by one hex character, making it an invalid Ethereum address as written.Proposed correction (not yet applied)with proceeds deposited into Tornado Cash roughly 10 hours after the attacker's wallet, 0xa0c7bd318d69424603cbf91e9969870f21b8ab4c, sold the stolen AUDIO on Uniswap, to obscure the trail - #5[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Audit Failures and Smart Contract Security
“The exploited Audius governance contracts were originally deployed in October 2020 and had been audited by OpenZeppelin (August 2020), Kudelski Security (October 2021), and allegedly reviewed by PeckShield, none of which identified the re-initialization vulnerability.”
reviewerThe exploited contracts were audited by OpenZeppelin (Aug 2020), Kudelski Security (Oct 2021), and allegedly reviewed by PeckShield, none of which caught the vulnerability.Grouping PeckShield with OpenZeppelin and Kudelski implies it also reviewed the contracts beforehand and missed the flaw; the available record instead shows PeckShield analyzing the exploit after it happened.Proposed correction (not yet applied)The exploited Audius governance contracts were originally deployed in October 2020 and had been audited by OpenZeppelin (August 2020) and Kudelski Security (October 2021), neither of which identified the re-initialization vulnerability; PeckShield's documented role was a post-exploit analysis of the attack in July 2022, not a prior audit. - #6[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Token Performance and Market Impact
“The AUDIO token was listed following the mainnet launch in September 2020 and reached an all-time high of approximately ”
reviewerThe AUDIO token was listed following the mainnet launch in September 2020.Multiple sources, including Audius's own announcements, place the mainnet/AUDIO launch in October 2020, not September 2020.Proposed correction (not yet applied)The AUDIO token was listed following the mainnet launch in October 2020 and reached an all-time high of approximately - #7[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Background and Founding
“The platform launched a testnet in August 2019, the mainnet and AUDIO token in September 2020, and surpassed 500,000 monthly active users by August 2020.”
reviewerThe platform launched a testnet in August 2019, the mainnet and AUDIO token in September 2020, and surpassed 500,000 monthly active users by August 2020.Both the mainnet-launch month and the sequencing of the 500,000-MAU milestone (placed before the mainnet even launched) conflict with independent and Audius-sourced reporting; the 500k figure appears to date to around the end of 2020, after launch.Proposed correction (not yet applied)The platform launched a testnet in August 2019, the mainnet and AUDIO token in October 2020, and surpassed 500,000 monthly active users around the end of 2020. - #8[disputed][awaiting moderator]in the timeline
“2020-09”
reviewerAudius mainnet launched alongside the AUDIO token in September 2020, with over 500,000 monthly active users reported at that time.Timeline date field should match the October 2020 launch date established above; also see the companion finding on the event text.Proposed correction (not yet applied)2020-10 - #9[disputed][awaiting moderator]in the timeline
“Audius mainnet launches alongside the AUDIO token; platform reports over 500,000 monthly active users.”
reviewerAudius mainnet launches alongside the AUDIO token; platform reports over 500,000 monthly active users (dated to September 2020).Removing the unsupported MAU clause from this dated event rather than guess at a figure that isn't firmly tied to this specific month.Proposed correction (not yet applied)Audius mainnet launches alongside the AUDIO token. - #15[disputed][awaiting moderator]in the timeline
“Audius acquires virtual concert platform SoundStage.fm; platform tops 7.5 million monthly users.”
reviewerIn 2022, Audius acquired SoundStage.fm and the platform topped 7.5 million monthly users.The SoundStage.fm acquisition date (2022) is correct, but bundling it with the 7.5 million MAU milestone implies that figure was also reached in 2022, when it was in fact reported about three years later.Proposed correction (not yet applied)Audius acquires virtual concert platform SoundStage.fm.
unverifiable
3 claimsNo source the reviewer could reach confirms or contradicts the claim.
- #17[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: Token Performance and Market Impact
“As of May 2026, AUDIO trades at approximately $0.019, approximately 99.6% below its all-time high. The current market capitalization is approximately $27.6 million on a circulating supply of roughly 1.42 billion tokens.”
reviewerThe AUDIO token reached an all-time high of approximately $4.95 and has declined approximately 99.6% as of May 2026, trading at approximately $0.019 with a market cap of approximately $27.6 million on roughly 1.42 billion circulating supply.The $4.95 all-time high is independently confirmed, but the specific May 2026 price/market-cap/supply figures could not be verified against a dated snapshot; later (October 2026) data is directionally consistent with further decline. - #18[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: Token Performance and Market Impact
“The token declined approximately 92% in 2022, with the governance exploit in July 2022 contributing to a significant loss of market confidence.”
reviewerThe AUDIO token declined approximately 92% in 2022.Could not independently source a dated start-of-year/end-of-year 2022 price comparison to confirm the specific 92% figure; broad 2022 token price decline is plausible but unconfirmed at this precision. - #19[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: Platform Operations and Partnerships
“An airdrop phishing campaign impersonating Audius was reported in 2026, with Audius officially warning users that no official airdrop had been announced.”
reviewerAn airdrop phishing campaign impersonating Audius was reported in 2026, with Audius warning users no official airdrop had been announced.Could not independently verify the specific 2026 phishing warning via the cited social media post.
stale
1 claimThe claim was accurate when written but events since have overtaken it.
- #14[stale][awaiting moderator]in section: Platform Operations and Partnerships
“As of early 2026, Audius reports approximately 7.5–8 million monthly active users and has continued to expand its product with features including USDC-based direct artist payments, artist-issued tokens, and integrations with music marketing platforms.”
reviewerAs of early 2026, Audius reports approximately 7.5-8 million monthly active users.The 7.5-8 million MAU figure traces to a mid-2025 article, not a 2026 source; presenting it as current 'as of early 2026' overstates its recency.Proposed correction (not yet applied)As of 2025, Audius reported approximately 7.5–8 million monthly active users and has continued to expand its product with features including USDC-based direct artist payments, artist-issued tokens, and integrations with music marketing platforms.
partially supported
3 claimsThe cited evidence supports part of the claim but not all of it.
- #4[partially supported][awaiting moderator]in section: July 2022 Governance Exploit
“The Audius team assembled a response team within 25 minutes, identified the root cause within one hour, and deployed an initial fix 87 minutes after detecting the exploit — using the same vulnerability to regain governance control and freeze staking and delegation contracts.”
reviewerAudius assembled a response team within 25 minutes, identified the root cause within one hour, and deployed an initial fix 87 minutes after detecting the exploit.The overall shape of the response timeline is corroborated by Audius's own post-mortem as relayed by multiple outlets, but secondary sources are not fully consistent on which milestone each duration marks, so the precise phrasing overstates the certainty slightly. - #10[partially supported][awaiting moderator]in section: Background and Founding
“Audius was founded in 2018 by Roneil Rumburg (CEO), Forrest Browning (CPO), and musician/entrepreneur Ranidu Lankage.”
reviewerAudius was founded in 2018 by Roneil Rumburg (CEO), Forrest Browning (CPO), and Ranidu Lankage.Rumburg (CEO) and Browning (CPO) are accurate current/recent titles, but at the 2018 founding described in this sentence, contemporaneous reporting had Lankage as CEO and Rumburg as CTO; the sentence conflates founding-era and later titles. - #11[partially supported][awaiting moderator]in section: Background and Founding
“Audius raised a total of approximately $16.1 million across five funding rounds, with the largest being a $5.5 million Series A in August 2018 led by General Catalyst.”
reviewerAudius raised a total of approximately $16.1 million across five funding rounds, with the largest being a $5.5 million Series A in August 2018 led by General Catalyst.The $16.1M/five-rounds total and the $5.5M August 2018 figure check out, but the page understates Lightspeed's role by listing it only as an 'additional institutional investor' when contemporaneous reporting credits it as a co-lead of that round.
confirmed
5 claimsThe cited evidence supports the claim as written.
- #1[confirmed][no action needed]in section: July 2022 Governance Exploit
“The root cause was a storage collision bug introduced during a prior contract upgrade: when the proxy contract read the 'initialized' flag, it instead returned the value of a newly added 'proxyAdmin' variable, allowing the attacker to call the initialize() function repeatedly on already-deployed contracts.”
reviewerAttacker exploited a storage collision bug in Audius's proxy contracts, became sole guardian, self-delegated 10 trillion AUDIO, and passed a malicious proposal transferring 18,564,497 AUDIO from the treasury.Mechanism, token amount, and self-delegation figures are consistently corroborated across the post-mortem and independent outlets. - #2[confirmed][no action needed]in section: July 2022 Governance Exploit
“The stolen tokens were then swapped for approximately 704.17 ETH (worth roughly $1.08–1.09 million at the time) via Uniswap due to significant price impact”
reviewerStolen AUDIO was swapped for approximately 704.17 ETH via Uniswap, worth roughly $1.08-1.09 million, and a key transaction hash is 0x82fc23992c7433fffad0e28a1b8d11211dc4377de83e88088d79f24f4a3f28b3.Both the ETH figure and the transaction hash check out against independent sourcing. - #12[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Background and Founding
“Artist investors include Katy Perry, Nas, Jason Derulo, The Chainsmokers (via Mantis VC), Steve Aoki, Pusha T, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, and Disclosure.”
reviewerArtist investors in Audius include Katy Perry, Nas, Jason Derulo, The Chainsmokers (via Mantis VC), Steve Aoki, Pusha T, Mike Shinoda, and Disclosure.Full artist investor list matches the cited Rolling Stone reporting. - #13[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Platform Operations and Partnerships
“In August 2021, Audius announced a partnership with TikTok as the platform's first music streaming integration, enabling artists to push tracks directly from Audius to TikTok Sounds.”
reviewerIn August 2021, Audius announced a TikTok partnership as its first music streaming integration, and the AUDIO token surged over 90%.Partnership details and the >90% surge are well-corroborated by independent reporting. - #16[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Fund Laundering via Tornado Cash
“Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on August 8, 2022 — just over two weeks after the Audius exploit.”
reviewerTornado Cash was sanctioned by OFAC on August 8, 2022, roughly two weeks after the Audius exploit, and its co-founders were later charged by the DOJ with money laundering and sanctions violations.Both the OFAC sanction date and the DOJ charges date are independently confirmed.
How this fits together. The reviewer reads the published page and its cited sources and records one finding per claim. A human moderator decides whether each proposed correction is applied; those decisions, and the score changes they cause, appear in the audit log. Earlier review runs are not shown here; only the latest reflects the page as it stands.