$ACX Token Falls 10% Following DAO Manipulation Accusations

The price of $ACX, the native token of Across Protocol, dropped by over 10% to below $0.135 on 27 June after allegations emerged accusing the project’s leadership of secretly manipulating DAO governance to extract funds.

The token saw a sharp decline in the early hours, falling from around $0.145 to a low of approximately $0.131 before stabilizing at lower levels.

Allegations of insider voting and treasury misuse

The controversy began with a lengthy exposé posted on X by Ogle, the pseudonymous founder of Glue.

The post accuses Risk Labs — the entity behind Across — of “extracting” nearly $23million worth of $ACX from the DAO treasury through orchestrated governance proposals.

Ogle claims that in both 2023 and 2024, proposals were submitted requesting a total of 150 million $ACX tokens. These were framed as funding grants for development, but on-chain analysis reportedly linked key ‘yes’ votes to wallets controlled by team members.

The post argues that the proposals may not have reached quorum without these insider votes. The thread also alleges that token sales took place despite prior assurances that no $ACX would be sold for two years.

Founder Hart Lambur responds: “Categorically untrue”

Across founder Hart Lambur has strongly denied all claims, calling them “categorically untrue” and describing the post as “an attempted hit piece” from a rival-affiliated actor.

Lambur rejected the claim that the votes were cast in secret in a detailed rebuttal. He stated that the wallet tied to senior team member Kevin Chan has always been publicly associated with him, and that voting was transparent and on-chain.

He added that team members, like any other DAO participants, can vote using tokens they acquired personally.

Responding to the allegation of broken token sale promises, Lambur clarified that the granted tokens remain in the custody of Risk Labs and that only previously held tokens were sold.

He noted that the Risk Labs multisig still holds 196 million $ACX — more than the 150 million granted through the proposals.

Mixed reactions from the community

Despite the detailed rebuttal, not all observers were convinced. One user on X responded that the explanation failed to address the core governance concern: “Whether or not tokens are bought with your own money, insiders are supposed to recuse themselves.”

The user added that, from a transparency standpoint, the optics of the situation could erode public trust — especially if viewed through the lens of traditional governance standards.

Price drops as market reacts

$ACX began trading around $0.145 in the early hours of 27 June but fell by nearly 10% within a short window, reaching a local low of around $0.131. The timing of the drop closely followed the viral thread, suggesting a direct market reaction to the allegations.

Trading volume spiked during the decline, then tapered off as the price hovered between $0.132 and $0.136.

At the time of writing, $ACX remains under pressure, trading below prior support levels and reflecting ongoing uncertainty among holders.