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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"305f7d20-9921-4672-ba87-90bed081d299","kind":"publish","page_slug":"across-protocol","published_at":"2026-05-19T16:33:19.218Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Across Protocol","sections":[{"content":"Across Protocol is a cross-chain bridge allowing users to transfer ERC-20 tokens between Ethereum mainnet and various Layer 2 networks including Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and other EVM-compatible chains. It was created on October 24, 2021 by Hart Lambur and the team at Risk Labs, the same organization behind UMA (Universal Market Access). The protocol uses UMA's optimistic oracle as its security backbone: relayers front liquidity to users immediately, and the optimistic oracle settles disputes. The ACX governance token launched in November 2022 (TGE: November 28, 2022) at a listing price of approximately $0.0808. Backers include Paradigm, Blockchain Capital, and Multicoin Capital. By 2024, the protocol reported processing over $11.6 billion in bridge volume without a direct smart contract exploit.","heading":"Protocol Overview","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol ACX Token Overview - ICO Drops","type":"other","url":"https://icodrops.com/across-protocol/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Why Across Has Never Been Hacked - Across Protocol Blog","type":"official","url":"https://across.to/blog/why-across-has-never-been-hacked"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Case Study: How UMA Secures Across Protocol - UMA Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uma.xyz/articles/case-study-how-uma-secures-across-protocol"}]},{"content":"On June 27, 2025, pseudonymous investigator Ogle, founder of Layer 1 project Glue and an advisor to World Liberty Financial, publicly alleged via X that the Across Protocol team orchestrated two governance proposals to transfer approximately $23 million worth of ACX tokens from the community DAO treasury to Risk Labs, the team's own organization. The first proposal, passed in October 2023, allocated 100 million ACX tokens (approximately $15 million at June 2025 prices) under the stated premise of supporting future protocol development, with an alleged commitment that tokens would not be sold for two years. The second proposal, passed in October 2024, allocated 50 million ACX tokens (approximately $8 million) as purported 'retroactive funding.' Ogle alleged this second proposal reached quorum only because of wallets controlled by insiders, including wallets linked to CEO Hart Lambur and Treasurer Kevin Chan (whose wallet bore the public ENS handle 'maxodds.eth'). Ogle characterized the arrangement as a 'DINO' (DAO in name only), alleging that token-holder democracy was performative while actual control resided with insiders. Ogle acknowledged he held a long ACX position at the time of publication and admitted 'a non-zero chance' of errors in his analysis. He stated he had communicated with the Across treasurer prior to publishing. Risk Labs allegedly began selling ACX token option agreements to external investors shortly after the first allocation, contrary to the alleged two-year lockup representation. All allegations remain disputed and unproven in a court of law.","heading":"DAO Governance Manipulation Allegations","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"ACX Token Slides 10% as Accusations of DAO Manipulation Rock Across Protocol - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/06/27/acx-token-slides-10-as-accusations-of-dao-manipulation-rock-across-protocol"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Across Protocol DAO under fire over $23M fund misuse claims - CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/across-protocol-founders-accused-of-funneling-23m-to-own-company"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol accused of $23M DAO vote manipulation and insider trading - BitcoinEthereumNews","type":"news_article","url":"https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/finance/across-protocol-accused-of-23m-dao-vote-manipulation-and-insider-trading/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol price drops 11% amid allegations of $23M ACX token misappropriation - CoinJournal","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinjournal.net/news/across-protocol-price-drops-11-amid-allegations-of-23m-acx-token-misappropriation/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol accused of looting DAO treasury of $23M - Protos","type":"news_article","url":"https://protos.com/across-protocol-accused-of-looting-dao-treasury-of-23m/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ACX Token Faces Turmoil Amid Governance Manipulation Allegations - OKX Learn","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.okx.com/en-us/learn/acx-token-governance-allegations-market-impact"}]},{"content":"Bryan Pellegrino, founder and CEO of LayerZero, separately alleged that Across Protocol CEO Hart Lambur may have engaged in insider trading by purchasing ACX tokens shortly before a surprise Binance listing of ACX in December 2024. ACX reached an all-time high of approximately $1.69 following the listing. Lambur denied having advance knowledge of the listing, stating the team 'had ZERO idea Binance would list ACX,' that they found out on Twitter like the general public, paid zero listing fee, and had received no advance notice. Lambur stated that while Across spoke with Binance's listing team in early 2024, communications had ceased 'months' before the listing occurred. No regulatory body has opened a formal investigation into these insider trading allegations, and no court findings have been made.","heading":"Alleged Insider Trading — Binance Listing","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"ACX drops over 10% as Across Protocol team refutes allegations - The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/360075/across-protocol-founder-refutes-allegations"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol founders under fire over $23M fund misuse claims - Cryptopolitan","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/across-protocol-foundeers-23m-fund-misuse/"}]},{"content":"Hart Lambur, co-founder and CEO of Risk Labs, publicly denied all allegations. Lambur characterized the accusations as 'categorically untrue' and stated that Risk Labs is a Cayman Islands-based nonprofit entity with no shareholders, subject to Cayman law fiduciary obligations — not a for-profit company as characterized by Ogle. Lambur stated that team members voted using tokens they personally acquired, that all wallet addresses involved were either publicly identified team members or individuals who purchased ACX independently, and that Chan's 'maxodds.eth' wallet was publicly linked to him — disputing the 'secret wallet' characterization. He also noted that the first October 2023 proposal passed with approximately 97% approval and a seven-day voting window during which no community objections were raised. Lambur stated the ACX tokens were being used 'exactly as intended' to fund protocol development, including v3 and v4 upgrades.","heading":"Team Response and Denials","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"ACX drops over 10% as Across Protocol team refutes allegations - The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/360075/across-protocol-founder-refutes-allegations"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol Denies Allegations of Secret DAO Votes and Token Misuse - MoneyCheck","type":"news_article","url":"https://moneycheck.com/across-protocol-denies-allegations-of-secret-dao-votes-and-token-misuse/"}]},{"content":"On March 11, 2026, Risk Labs published a governance temperature-check proposing to dissolve the Across DAO entirely and transition operations to a newly formed U.S. C-corporation, tentatively named AcrossCo. Risk Labs framed the transition as necessary to address friction with institutional and enterprise partners who found the DAO structure difficult to contract with. ACX token holders were offered two options under the proposal: exchange tokens for equity in AcrossCo on a 1:1 ratio (holders above 5 million ACX could convert directly; smaller holders through a no-fee SPV structure), or accept a USDC buyout at $0.04375 per token — a stated 25% premium over the trailing 30-day average price. The proposal passed via Snapshot vote on approximately April 2, 2026. ACX surged approximately 70-80% on announcement. South Korean exchanges Bithumb and Coinone issued a joint investment caution warning on May 7, 2026, citing risks arising from the governance transformation. The conversion of tokens to equity or USDC is expected to open by July 2026. Critics have noted the proposed conversion comes approximately nine months after the governance manipulation allegations surfaced, though Risk Labs has not linked the two events.","heading":"DAO Dissolution and Corporate Conversion (2026)","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol Proposes Shift From DAO to Private Company - The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/across-protocol-proposes-shift-from-dao-to-private-company"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Across's ACX rockets 80% on plans to dump its DAO structure - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/03/12/across-s-acx-rockets-80-massively-beating-bitcoin-on-plans-to-dump-its-dao-structure"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Paradigm-backed Across Protocol explores letting ACX holders exchange tokens for equity - The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/393192/paradigm-backed-across-protocol-acx-token-equity-exchange"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Bithumb and Coinone Issue Investment Warnings for Across Protocol ACX Token - MEXC News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.mexc.co/en-IN/news/1075692"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Crypto bridge Across soars as devs propose turning DAO into private company - DL News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/across-soars-as-foundation-proposes-turning-dao-into-company/"}]},{"content":"Across Protocol has engaged OpenZeppelin for multiple rounds of smart contract auditing. The UMA Across V2 audit, conducted over approximately two weeks with two auditors, identified zero critical, zero high, and zero medium severity issues; four low-severity issues and seven informational notes were found and all eleven were remediated via submitted pull requests. Post-audit, OpenZeppelin identified additional issues including: a frontrunning vulnerability in the fillCounter mechanism that failed to properly track cross-chain refunds; a negative LP fee underpayment issue in slow relays; and a recipient/message update failure capable of locking user funds. A further post-audit vulnerability was identified where attackers could exploit slow fill callbacks to steal ETH from the dataworker via malicious contracts. OpenZeppelin subsequently performed incremental audits for V3 and V4, and a differential audit of an OFT integration. No instance of a successful smart contract exploit resulting in user fund loss has been publicly documented for Across Protocol. The protocol's architecture places significant trust in off-chain relayer and dataworker software, and the OpenZeppelin assessment noted that 'bugs in off-chain software may achieve similar effects' to contract vulnerabilities.","heading":"Smart Contract Security and Audit History","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"UMA Across V2 Audit - OpenZeppelin","type":"research","url":"https://www.openzeppelin.com/news/uma-across-v2-audit-2023"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Across V3 Incremental Audit - OpenZeppelin","type":"research","url":"https://www.openzeppelin.com/news/across-v3-incremental-audit"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Across Protocol OFT Integration Differential Audit - OpenZeppelin","type":"research","url":"https://www.openzeppelin.com/news/across-protocol-oft-integration-differential-audit"}]},{"content":"ACX launched at approximately $0.0808 in November 2022. The token reached an all-time high of approximately $1.69 in December 2024, coinciding with a surprise Binance listing. By June 27, 2025, when the governance manipulation allegations surfaced, ACX was trading around $0.151 before falling over 10% to approximately $0.134 within 24 hours, representing a decline of approximately 91% from its all-time high. The token had already declined approximately 41% in the month preceding the allegations. Following the March 2026 DAO dissolution proposal, ACX surged approximately 70-80% to approximately $0.06, reflecting a market capitalization of roughly $60 million at that level. As of the token conversion offer, the buyout price of $0.04375 reflected a significant discount to peak valuation.","heading":"Market Impact and Token Performance","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol token plunges amid $23M misuse claim - Crypto.news","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto.news/across-protocol-token-plunges-23m-misappropriation-2025/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Across Protocol Token Crashes 10% Amid $23M Team Misappropriation Allegations - CryptoNews","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptonews.com/news/across-protocol-token-crashes-10-today-amid-23m-team-misappropriation-allegations/"}]}],"sources_used":[],"summary":"Across Protocol is a cross-chain bridge protocol built on UMA's optimistic oracle, founded by Hart Lambur and the UMA/Risk Labs team and launched in 2021. In June 2025, pseudonymous investigator Ogle alleged that protocol insiders used undisclosed wallets to push through two governance proposals transferring approximately 150 million ACX tokens ($23 million) from the DAO treasury to Risk Labs, the team's own organization, constituting alleged self-dealing and DAO manipulation. Separate allegations from LayerZero founder Bryan Pellegrino claimed insider trading preceded a surprise Binance listing of ACX in December 2024, with the protocol subsequently proposing in early 2026 to dissolve its DAO entirely and convert to a U.S. C-corporation.","timeline":[{"date":"2021-10-24","event":"Across Protocol created and launched by Hart Lambur and the Risk Labs / UMA team.","source":"ICO Drops - Across Protocol","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/across-protocol/"},{"date":"2022-11-28","event":"ACX governance token launched (TGE) at approximately $0.0808.","source":"ICO Drops - Across Protocol","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/across-protocol/"},{"date":"2023-10-01","event":"First disputed governance proposal passes, allocating 100 million ACX tokens (~$15M) to Risk Labs for stated development purposes. Vote recorded as passing with approximately 97% approval.","source":"CoinDesk - ACX Token Slides 10%","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/06/27/acx-token-slides-10-as-accusations-of-dao-manipulation-rock-across-protocol"},{"date":"2024-01-01","event":"Risk Labs allegedly begins selling ACX token option agreements to external investors, according to allegations by Ogle.","source":"CoinJournal - Across Protocol price drops 11%","source_url":"https://coinjournal.net/news/across-protocol-price-drops-11-amid-allegations-of-23m-acx-token-misappropriation/"},{"date":"2024-10-01","event":"Second disputed governance proposal passes, allocating 50 million ACX tokens (~$8M) to Risk Labs as 'retroactive funding.' Ogle later alleges the proposal reached quorum only via insider-controlled wallets.","source":"CoinDesk - ACX Token Slides 10%","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/06/27/acx-token-slides-10-as-accusations-of-dao-manipulation-rock-across-protocol"},{"date":"2024-12-01","event":"Binance surprise-lists ACX token. ACX reaches all-time high of approximately $1.69. Bryan Pellegrino subsequently alleges Hart Lambur purchased ACX tokens with advance knowledge of the listing.","source":"The Block - ACX drops over 10%","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/360075/across-protocol-founder-refutes-allegations"},{"date":"2025-06-27","event":"Pseudonymous investigator Ogle publishes allegations on X that Across Protocol insiders manipulated DAO governance to transfer approximately $23 million in ACX tokens to Risk Labs. ACX drops over 10% in 24 hours.","source":"CoinDesk - ACX Token Slides 10%","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/06/27/acx-token-slides-10-as-accusations-of-dao-manipulation-rock-across-protocol"},{"date":"2025-06-27","event":"Hart Lambur publicly denies all governance manipulation and insider trading allegations, calling them 'categorically untrue.'","source":"The Block - ACX drops over 10%","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/360075/across-protocol-founder-refutes-allegations"},{"date":"2026-03-11","event":"Risk Labs publishes governance temperature-check proposing dissolution of the Across DAO and transition to a U.S. C-corporation (AcrossCo), with ACX-to-equity or USDC buyout terms for token holders.","source":"The Block - Paradigm-backed Across Protocol explores ACX-for-equity exchange","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/393192/paradigm-backed-across-protocol-acx-token-equity-exchange"},{"date":"2026-03-12","event":"ACX token surges approximately 70-80% following announcement of the DAO dissolution proposal.","source":"CoinDesk - ACX rockets 80%","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/03/12/across-s-acx-rockets-80-massively-beating-bitcoin-on-plans-to-dump-its-dao-structure"},{"date":"2026-04-02","event":"DAO dissolution proposal ('Bridge Across') passes via Snapshot vote, marking the beginning of the transition to AcrossCo.","source":"CoinMarketCap - Across Protocol Latest Updates","source_url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/cmc-ai/across-protocol/latest-updates/"},{"date":"2026-05-07","event":"South Korean exchanges Bithumb and Coinone issue joint investment caution warning for ACX token, citing risks from the governance transformation to corporate structure.","source":"MEXC News - Bithumb and Coinone Issue Investment Warnings for ACX","source_url":"https://www.mexc.co/en-IN/news/1075692"}]},"v":1}