Across Protocol Accused of Misusing $23 Million in DAO Tokens

- Founders accused of misusing DAO governance to transfer $23 million in tokens to an affiliated company. - Insider trading allegations add to controversy, negatively impacting the ACX token. On June 27, 2025, Cryptopolitan reported accusations that Across Protocol founders misused DAO funds and engaged in insider trading. The claims, also covered by Cointelegraph and The Block, suggest founders Hart Lambur and project lead Kevin Chan exploited their positions within the project’s DAO. They allegedly transferred $23 million in ACX tokens to Risk Labs, a company affiliated with them, raising concerns about transparency and integrity in DAO governance practices. According to a June 27 report from Cryptopolitan, "Ogle," the pseudonymous founder of Glue, accused Lambur and Chan of using insider-controlled wallets to push through two critical governance proposals. The first proposal, passed in October 2023, allocated 100 million ACX tokens to the project’s treasury for "future development." Although the proposal included a commitment not to sell the tokens for two years, accusers allege that Risk Labs began selling token option agreements shortly afterward. A second proposal, labeled "retroactive funding," subsequently allocated an additional 50 million ACX tokens to the project. Reports claim these proposals achieved quorum using insider-controlled wallets, bypassing the DAO’s democratic decision-making process for personal and organizational gain. In addition, Lambur faces insider trading accusations. Bryan Pellegrino, founder of LayerZero, alleged that Lambur purchased ACX tokens shortly before a surprise Binance listing in December 2024, fueling speculation that Lambur had advance knowledge of the listing. Hart Lambur has denied all allegations. In a statement to multiple outlets, he asserted that Risk Labs is a non-profit organization based in the Cayman Islands with no shareholders and emphasized that the allocated funds were strictly for protocol development, including the creation of Across v3 and v4. He also maintained that team members used their personal tokens to vote transparently on governance proposals, noting that some passed with unanimous votes. Regarding the insider trading claims, Lambur stated he was unaware of the Binance listing until the public announcement on X (formerly Twitter) and claimed he purchased the tokens transparently to show support for Across Protocol. As a result of the controversy, the ACX token has been negatively impacted. On June 27, Cryptopolitan noted the token price dropped over 10%, reflecting investor concerns. The allegations have therefore reignited broader discussions about the vulnerability of DAOs to insider influence and the need for stronger governance frameworks to ensure accountability and transparency. According to CoinMarketCap, the Across Protocol ACX token was trading at $0.195 as of 12:00 UTC on June 27. This price represents a 7.4% decline over the previous 24 hours.