Network news
AXIOM EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF ALLEGED INSIDER TRAINING BY ZACHXBT: Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said a senior employee of onchain trading platform Axiom Exchange allegedly abused internal access to user data to monitor private wallets and potentially trade memecoins using insider information. In a thread on Founded in 2024 by Mist and Cal and a member of Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 cohort, Axiom has generated more than $390 million in revenue to date, according to the researcher. ZachXBT said he was called in to investigate allegations of misuse of internal tools. He didn’t say who was holding him. In audio clips shared in the thread, a person purported to be Bauer claims he can track “any Axiom user” by referral code, wallet address, or UID and “discover anything related to that person.” In the same recording, he describes initially investigating 10 to 20 portfolios and gradually increasing activity “so it doesn’t look so suspicious.” — Oliver Knight Read more.
EF ‘STRAWMAP’ ROADMAP RELEASED: Ethereum Foundation has published a roadmap that reads as if it is building for the next decade and will not survive the current quarter. The document, called the “strawmap” and released Wednesday by EF researcher Justin Drake, outlines a plan for seven hard forks through 2029. Hard forks are network-wide software upgrades that each node must implement or leave behind, making them the highest-stakes change Ethereum can make. The plan is built around five goals described as ‘north stars’. These include a faster layer 1 with transaction finality in seconds; dramatically higher layer-1 throughput, capable of approximately 10,000 transactions per second (also called “gigagas” scale); Layer-2 networks achieve “teragas” throughput levels, or approximately 10 million TPS; post-quantum cryptography and built-in privacy via shielded ETH transfers. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
ROBINHOOD CHAIN TESTNET UPDATE: Robinhood’s (HOOD) testnet recorded 4 million transactions in the first week its testnet chain went live, the investment platform’s CEO Vlad Tenev said on “Developers are already building on our L2, designed for tokenized real world assets and onchain financial services,” Tenev wrote. Testnets are risk-free environments where developers can test code and experimental features before the mainnet goes live. The two phases of network development can be compared to a flight simulator and a commercial flight. The Robinhood Chain testnet has arrived against the backdrop of a larger reckoning in the Ethereum world. Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the protocol’s long-standing layer-2 (L2) rollup-centric roadmap “no longer makes sense,” arguing that many rollups are not fully decentralized and that Ethereum’s base layer is scaling faster than expected. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
OPENAI DIPS ITS TOE INTO SMART CONTRACTS: OpenAI is moving deeper into crypto security with the debut of EVMbench, a testing framework designed to measure how well artificial intelligence can understand and potentially secure smart contracts on Ethereum and similar blockchains. Smart contracts, the self-executing code deployed on blockchains like Ethereum, support decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and a wide range of on-chain financial applications. Because these contracts are typically immutable once deployed, vulnerabilities can be serious. EVMbench is OpenAI’s attempt to see if modern AI systems can help prevent these problems. The benchmark was built in collaboration with crypto investment firm Paradigm and is based on real smart contract vulnerabilities that have already been exposed through audits and security competitions. The system measures performance based on three core capabilities: identifying security bugs, exploiting those bugs in a controlled environment, and fixing the vulnerable code without breaking contracts. OpenAI says the goal is to establish a clear standard for evaluating AI systems in terms of blockchain security, especially as decentralized finance continues to secure billions of dollars in user funds. The commitment to smart contracts is only increasing. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
In other news
- Meta, the US tech giant led by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, is looking to enter the stablecoin space later this year, pending a successful integration with a third-party company to facilitate payments using its dollar-pegged token technology, according to three people familiar with the plans. The tech giant, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram and has more than 3 billion users, wants to start stablecoin integration early in the second half of this year, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not public. Meta plans to integrate a vendor to help manage stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new wallet, the person said. A second person said Meta has sent a request for product (RFP) to third-party companies and called Stripe a likely candidate for testing the stablecoin. By introducing stablecoins, Meta could open payment rails to its massive user base while bypassing expensive traditional banking fees, and potentially position Meta as a global leader in ‘social commerce’ and cross-border money transfers. — Ian Allison Read more.
- American Bitcoin (ABTC), the bitcoin mining company backed by President Donald Trump’s family, said it lost $59 million in the fourth quarter as the plummeting price of the largest cryptocurrency eroded the value of its assets. The company, which went public in September, less than a month before the largest cryptocurrency hit an all-time high, pursues a dual strategy of mining and purchasing, with about a third of its revenue $BTC from mining activities. The rest comes from open market purchases and strategic transactions, largely financed by stock sales. The company, which is 20% owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., generated $150.5 million through an on-market share offering during the quarter. The capital allowed it to increase its exposure to bitcoin per share by almost 50%. It now contains more than 6,000 $BTCit said. During the quarter, it mined bitcoin at a gross margin of 53%, indicating production costs were significantly below spot prices even as the cryptocurrency’s price fell. Turnover increased by 22% compared to the third quarter. — Francesco Rodrigues and James Van Straten Read more.
Regulations and policies
- The Indiana state legislature has approved public retirement and savings plans to gain exposure to digital assets and spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while affirming residents’ access to crypto investments. Governor Mike Braun is expected to sign HB 1042 into law within the next ten days. Indiana joins at least seven other states, including Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, that have taken steps to integrate crypto-linked products into public investment frameworks. Nearly half of state governments in the US are on track to put some of their money into crypto or have already done so, with much of this trend developing since President Donald Trump directed his administration to set up a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. — Olivier Acuna Read more.
- The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned a Russian company, Operation Zero, and the individuals behind it, including Sergei Sergeyevich Zeleniuk, after accusing them of buying stolen cyber tools worth millions in cryptocurrency and reselling these technologies, which were created for use by the U.S. government. The tools were originally believed to have been stolen by an Australian citizen, Peter Williams, who once worked at the defense contractor that created the national security-oriented software “for the exclusive use of the U.S. government and select allies.” Williams pleaded guilty last year to selling trade secrets. “The Treasury Department will continue to work with the rest of the Trump Administration to protect sensitive American intellectual property and safeguard our national security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Zelenyuk and the others would be the first people to be punished under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act. — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
Calendar
- March 24-26, 2026: Digital Asset Summit, New York City
- March 30 – April 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- April 15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- April 29-30, 2026: Token2049, Dubai
- May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
- September 29 – October 1, 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- October 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- November 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- November 15-17, 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London