ZachXBT exposes insider trading at Axiom, with Polymarket insiders profiting over $1.2 million in advance

February 27 News: Polymarket recently exposed an insider trading incident where individuals used non-public information for profit. According to reports, 8 of the top 10 addresses with the highest gains are linked to insiders who profited over $1.2 million by betting on ZachXBT’s investigation into Axiom insider trading.

This incident demonstrates that in decentralized prediction markets, having early access to investigation results can create significant asymmetrical advantages, distort market prices and forecasts, and harm ordinary investors. Data shows that 52 regular addresses lost between $10,000 and over $100,000, totaling more than $1.6 million in losses, which were offset by insider gains.

On-chain analysis firm Lookonchain identified 12 suspected insider wallets with total profits of about $1.02 million. Notably, address 0x1d9af60c679cd0b577c3c4ccb4b1a4be4174426d (predictorxyz) made $411,600 in Axiom market trades, while two other addresses earned $354,000 and $144,000 respectively, each participating in only one market trade. WuBlockchain data shows over 3,630 addresses engaged in such trades, with 56.2% of participants ultimately making a profit.

From a macro perspective, this behavior is similar to front-running in traditional securities markets, revealing the tension between transparency and abuse in DeFi platforms. ZachXBT’s disclosures about Axiom indicate that on-chain transparency can both expose insider information and facilitate unfair, information-based trading.

Currently, decentralized prediction markets lack enforceable rules against insider trading, and structural abuse issues remain difficult to resolve. This incident may prompt regulators and market participants to pay closer attention to platform compliance and fairness.