Polymarket user gains $400K betting on ZachXBT investigation

Polymarket users betting on an employee at trading platform Axiom as the target of an insider trading investigation by ZachXBT were rewarded after the crypto sleuth announced the results on social media to his 977,500 followers.

In a Thursday X post, ZachXBT said Axiom employee Broox Bauer and others allegedly were responsible for insider trading activity at the company “since early 2025.” According to the pseudonymous onchain investigator, Bauer allegedly used internal tools “to lookup sensitive user details to insider trade by tracking private wallet activity.”

ZachXBT shared audio clips related to the investigation, in which an individual he said was Bauer claimed he could track Axiom users. In an X post following the announcement, Axiom said it was “shocked and disappointed” in the news.

The investigation was the latest by the online sleuth, known in the industry for uncovering scams, hacks and instances of insider trading or other unscrupulous activities. Polymarket users bet nearly $40 million leading up to today’s reveal speculating that Axiom would be the target of the probe.

On Wednesday, before ZachXBT’s notice, many Polymarket users speculated that his target would be decentralized liquidity platform Meteora. A company spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the incident “was a reminder of why transparency and strong operational controls matter” and that the platform had “evolved a lot” since 2025.

One Polymarket user, who placed separate bets on a similar event contract, profited by about $400,000. Others traded more than $9.7 million on the platform’s “Which crypto company will ZachXBT expose for insider trading?” contract, winning their bets.

Last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig said that the federal regulator had “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets, pushing back against several state-level authorities targeting platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi over sports betting. The CFTC chair warned that any state-level entities challenging the federal agency would be met in court.