Across Protocol, known as a cross-chain bridge secured by UMA’s optimistic oracle, has seen its token ACX fall by more than 40% over the last month. In the past 24 hours alone, the token dropped an additional 10%, reaching lows of around $0.13.
Today’s decline comes after allegations accusing the team behind Across Protocol of misusing DAO governance to secure $23 million worth of ACX tokens for Risk Labs, the foundation building the protocol.
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The Allegations
The accusations were published on X by Ogle, co-founder of Glue Network. According to Ogle, Across Protocol orchestrated two proposals that transferred a total of 150 million ACX tokens to Risk Labs:
- First proposal (October 2023): 100 million ACX tokens were granted under the aim of supporting future development, with the assurance they wouldn’t be sold for two years.
- Second proposal (October 2024): 50 million ACX tokens were granted as “retroactive funding”.
Ogle claims the votes were passed using insider-controlled wallets, including wallets linked to team members. He stated that the second proposal would not have reached quorum without these insider votes and described the grants as harmful to ACX holders due to potential future sell pressure.
“The extraction of these $ACX tokens directly harms the current and future holders by not only draining the treasury, but also creating significant future potential sell pressure during the unlocks.”
The Team’s Response
Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol, strongly denied these claims:
Lambur explained that Risk Labs is a Cayman-based non-profit foundation with no shareholders and that it is under fiduciary responsibility to use these funds appropriately under Cayman law. He also clarified that he draws a salary of $100,000 per year from Risk Labs and has not received any token grant in years.
Regarding the insider voting claims, Lambur said that team members used tokens acquired with their own funds to vote transparently. He added that Kevin Chan, who proposed the grant, voted using both his public and secondary addresses, both of which are publicly linked to him. Lambur also stated that the second proposal passed with zero votes against it during a seven-day voting window.
Aside from his comments under Ogle’s accusations, Hart Lambur also released a long article addressing all the claims in detail.
Insider Trading Allegations
Another accusation surfaced from Bryan Pellegrino, founder of LayerZero and Stargate, who alleged that Lambur purchased ACX tokens shortly before a surprise Binance listing in December 2024.
Lambur denied these allegations as well, stating he had no prior knowledge of the listing and that he bought the tokens from his public wallet simply to support the project.
He added that Binance did not charge a listing fee and that communications with their listing team had stopped months before the token was listed.
What’s Next?
While Across Protocol is facing serious allegations of insider misconduct and governance manipulation, co-founder Hart Lambur has strongly denied all claims in detailed public replies. More discussions and clarifications might be published soon, but for now, the token remains under pressure, falling 10% today as investor confidence struggles.
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