Audit log

Every state-changing event for Kronos Research: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions are designed to carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key. Archive coverage is still being backfilled, so each decision below reports its own snapshot status rather than assuming one exists.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-05-20 15:41:07Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 421,014,708

   sig

   4LCRNzBVDqij…gvu1smtscopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   F3xKxey26xka…oCsvuBf1copysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (5387 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"4f02a3ce-393a-4e1c-a5f7-710e1a35a9cd","kind":"publish","page_slug":"kronos-research","published_at":"2026-05-20T15:41:07.623Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Kronos Research","sections":[{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/@C137K/from-taiwan-to-the-world-stage-kronos-research-and-their-ascension-in-crypto-market-making-d92e08941d78"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.kronosresearch.com/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://iq.wiki/wiki/mark-pimentel"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://iq.wiki/wiki/jack-tan"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-halts-trading-25-m-hack-investigation"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-kronos-research-hack-november-2023"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/11/28/crypto-trading-firm-kronos-research-offers-10-bounty-to-hacker"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/kronos-rekt"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-hacker-funds-tornado-cash-exploit"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cryptonews.com/news/kronos-research-hacker-launders-4m-through-tornado-cash/"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/legal/21491729/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://blockchain.news/news/quant-firm-kronos-Research-loses-14m-code-tampered-by-disgruntled-engineers"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/kronos-rekt"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://woox.io/blog/transparency-update-liquidity-incident-review"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://woo.org/blog/en/transparency-update-liquidity-incident-review"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/kronos-rekt"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/273294/woo-x-fundraise-improve-liquidity"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-halts-trading-25-m-hack-investigation"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/legal/21491729/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://woox.io/blog/transparency-update-liquidity-incident-review"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-hacker-funds-tornado-cash-exploit"}]}],"sources_used":[],"summary":"Kronos Research is a Taipei-based cryptocurrency quantitative trading firm and market maker founded in 2018 by Mark Pimentel and Jack Tan. The firm experienced two serious security incidents within months of each other in 2023: an insider sabotage case in which two disgruntled engineers tampered with trading code causing $1.4 million in losses, and an external hack in November 2023 where compromised API keys led to the theft of approximately $25–26 million. The November hack cascaded onto WOO X, an exchange Kronos incubated and served as primary liquidity provider, causing a temporary trading halt and liquidations for 227 users.","timeline":[{"date":"2018-06-01","event":"Kronos Research founded in Taipei, Taiwan by Mark Pimentel and Jack Tan.","source":""},{"date":"2019-01-01","event":"Kronos Research incubates WOO Network (later WOO X) and becomes its primary backstop liquidity provider.","source":""},{"date":"2023-08-27","event":"Two disgruntled former engineers convicted in Taipei court for tampering with Kronos Research trading algorithms over unpaid bonuses, causing $1.4 million in losses.","source":""},{"date":"2023-11-18","event":"Unauthorized party accesses Kronos Research exchange API keys and begins draining approximately $25–26 million across multiple exchanges. WOO X halts all trading at approximately 21:00 UTC due to liquidity shortage.","source":""},{"date":"2023-11-19","event":"Kronos Research publicly discloses the API key hack via X. Firm states losses will be covered internally with no partners affected. WOO X fully restores operations within approximately 11 hours.","source":""},{"date":"2023-11-21","event":"WOO X publishes transparency report detailing 227 user liquidations during the liquidity gap and confirms full user compensation.","source":""},{"date":"2023-11-28","event":"Kronos Research publicly offers hacker a 10% bounty (approximately $2.5 million) to return 90% of stolen funds, with a deadline of November 30, 2023 08:00 UTC and threat of legal action.","source":""},{"date":"2023-11-30","event":"Kronos Research bounty deadline passes with no return of funds reported.","source":""},{"date":"2024-05-01","event":"Hacker begins laundering stolen funds through Tornado Cash, moving approximately $4 million in 10 batches of 100 ETH.","source":""}]},"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision e7a58799-aba9-497c-96a5-4aa803bf7a76copy
2. #2rescoreby systemsystem

   2026-10-10 18:45:35Z
   Score: 28 → 61 (+33)
   Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 28 → 61. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −12.8, problems around the subject, caused by others −0.8; legitimacy credit long-running +10.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 455,365,391

   sig

   4MZ3FfijnPP4…2ZF7447jcopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   6ouqyrSGq7PF…ARkGbSWJcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (614 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system","decided_at":"2026-10-10T18:45:35.431Z","decision":"rescore","investigation_id":"4f02a3ce-393a-4e1c-a5f7-710e1a35a9cd","new_score":61,"page_slug":"kronos-research","prev_score":28,"reason":"Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 28 → 61. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −12.8, problems around the subject, caused by others −0.8; legitimacy credit long-running +10.","score_delta":33,"score_model":"v2","sequence_num":2,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 7f3d8719-245b-4443-9f85-15312033265ccopy
3. #3reviewby reviewerreviewer

   2026-11-02 03:33:53Z
   Score: 61 → 61 (no score change)
   The core incident facts hold up. The WOO X figures match the primary source, the $25M theft traced by ZachXBT is confirmed, and the insider case ($1.4M, Taipei court, fine option) is confirmed. One claim is unsupported by its citation: the statement that Kronos said losses would be covered internally with no partners affected is not in the cited Cointelegraph article, and WOO X was visibly affected. The NT$42M figure and the 2023-08-27 'conviction' date are also not supported by the cited source; that date is the article's publication date. The firm still operates, and the page does not mention that trading resumed or the Feb 2026 Proxima change. Roughly half the cited sources were not fetched, so many claims were not checked.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 464,345,746

   sig

   QtU22jcSwjLF…oNYd8YtYcopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   CYe6m6wRDnCX…qpXMsGupcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1591 B) ▸

   {"actor":"reviewer","artifact_identity":"fb1aa5133f9fb8199b7083d8284cb9fb","decided_at":"2026-11-02T03:33:53.736Z","decision":"review","disputed_pct":0.1429,"findings_hash":"77D9pNb67P1ebSPRxV17NJBjHMmNJd3qZTo571ubgFVz","investigation_id":"4f02a3ce-393a-4e1c-a5f7-710e1a35a9cd","judge_def_hash":"8800307026131ea9d5da939d32b9a1f1884b2b84a5de33c8e87931d36f38d0f8","new_score":61,"omissions":{"material":0,"total":2},"page_content_hash":"6757659727525670a60780fc312492b49f9b356991ef5a5f03adca961dc4a31b","page_slug":"kronos-research","prev_score":61,"reason":"The core incident facts hold up. The WOO X figures match the primary source, the $25M theft traced by ZachXBT is confirmed, and the insider case ($1.4M, Taipei court, fine option) is confirmed. One claim is unsupported by its citation: the statement that Kronos said losses would be covered internally with no partners affected is not in the cited Cointelegraph article, and WOO X was visibly affected. The NT$42M figure and the 2023-08-27 'conviction' date are also not supported by the cited source; that date is the article's publication date. The firm still operates, and the page does not mention that trading resumed or the Feb 2026 Proxima change. Roughly half the cited sources were not fetched, so many claims were not checked.","reviewer_def_hash":"bc11388ce4bc4deea1b064fea362663ae06e3f4f687f99604769044d6ffba770","score_delta":0,"sequence_num":3,"subject_status":"operating","subject_status_contradicts_page":false,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 1e6509d2-f3af-4f3f-b64a-57da5d6f2219copy
4. #4review reviseby judgejudge

   2026-11-02 03:33:53Z
   Score: 61 → 61 (no score change)
   One of the seven checked claims (about 14%) could not be verified: claim_findings[0], the statement that Kronos said losses would be covered internally with no partners affected, is not in the cited Cointelegraph article and conflicts with the documented WOO X disruption. claim_findings[3] and [4] are partly supported: the NT$42 million figure is not in the cited source, and 2023-08-27 is the article's publication date, not the conviction date. The core incident facts (the $25M theft, the WOO X timeline and figures, the $1.4M insider case) are confirmed. The review found no unmentioned shutdown or sanction, only minor omissions (trading resuming, the Proxima rename), so a minor-issues revision is warranted. Reviewer confidence is moderate and several cited sources were not read, so the penalty stays in the lower-middle of the band.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 464,345,750

   sig

   5AZiehjw5a7M…UgQbtT8Ncopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   47PXdgQARdYS…44Amt1FMcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1492 B) ▸

   {"actor":"judge","artifact_identity":"fb1aa5133f9fb8199b7083d8284cb9fb","band_override":null,"decided_at":"2026-11-02T03:33:53.736Z","decision":"review_revise","delist_requested":false,"disputed_pct":0.1429,"investigation_id":"4f02a3ce-393a-4e1c-a5f7-710e1a35a9cd","judge_def_hash":"8800307026131ea9d5da939d32b9a1f1884b2b84a5de33c8e87931d36f38d0f8","new_score":61,"page_slug":"kronos-research","prev_score":61,"reason":"One of the seven checked claims (about 14%) could not be verified: claim_findings[0], the statement that Kronos said losses would be covered internally with no partners affected, is not in the cited Cointelegraph article and conflicts with the documented WOO X disruption. claim_findings[3] and [4] are partly supported: the NT$42 million figure is not in the cited source, and 2023-08-27 is the article's publication date, not the conviction date. The core incident facts (the $25M theft, the WOO X timeline and figures, the $1.4M insider case) are confirmed. The review found no unmentioned shutdown or sanction, only minor omissions (trading resuming, the Proxima rename), so a minor-issues revision is warranted. Reviewer confidence is moderate and several cited sources were not read, so the penalty stays in the lower-middle of the band.","reviewer_def_hash":"bc11388ce4bc4deea1b064fea362663ae06e3f4f687f99604769044d6ffba770","score_delta":0,"sequence_num":4,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision b50b50c6-ff5d-47de-9832-68a6a2d86aefcopy