Robinhood工程师因涉及5万美元加密货币骗局被起诉

Two Robinhood engineers charged on suspicion of insider trading

U.S. federal prosecutors have charged two Robinhood engineers with commodity fraud and wire transfer fraud. The two engineers allegedly used confidential information about the launch of new cryptocurrencies to make more than $50,000 by trading perpetual contracts.

Core Summary of the Case

• Two defendants were suspected of trading before the company announced a new cryptocurrency listing.
• Each defendant allegedly made more than US$50,000 through perpetual contract positions on the Hyperliquid platform.
• Commodity fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and wire transfer fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
• The criminal complaint is an accusation only, and both engineers are considered innocent unless convicted.

Suspected pre-market trading

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on September 15 that charges were filed against 36-year-old Hefu Chai and 30-year-old Huaisong Xiang (also known as Jerry Xiang). According to the criminal complaint, both defendants worked as engineers at Robinhood Markets during the period of the alleged acts. Their position gives them access to confidential information about the cryptocurrencies Robinhood Crypto plans to add to its platform and when they will market.

Prosecutors accused Chai and Xiang of using the information between 2025 and 2026 to open perpetual contract positions related to planned listings. They did not buy the base token, but traded it through the Hyperliquid platform before Robinhood's announcement. Once the listing news was made public, the prices of several relevant cryptocurrencies increased, allowing the two defendants to close their positions and make a profit. Each engineer is said to have made more than $50,000 through transactions related to Robinhood's private listing plan.

The complaint accuses Chai and Xiang of violating their duties and failing to protect their employer's confidential information. In public statements, prosecutors did not specify all the cryptocurrencies involved. Previous reports pointed out that Robinhood's Worldcoin listing announcement allowed customers to obtain WLD trading rights, but the price of the token fluctuated violently during the listing period. Despite gaining Robinhood's customer base, the WLD price still fell by nearly 15%, indicating that platform participation does not always bring about sustained gains.

Hyperliquid perpetual contracts become suspected trading channels

Hyperliquid operates a decentralized derivatives platform through which traders can go long or short through perpetual contracts. Unlike standard futures, perpetual contracts do not have a fixed maturity date, but use cyclical capital payments to bring their prices closer to the reference asset. Prosecutors said that because there was no expiration date, Chai and Xiang were able to open positions before Robinhood's announcement and hold them until expected price changes occurred. The complaint alleges that two defendants had material non-public information when entering the transaction.

虽然Hyperliquid将交易记录在公共区块链基础设施上，但用户无需购买合约所引用的资产即可与其市场互动。近期对Hyperliquid协议升级的报道详细说明了HIP-3如何向外部开发人员开放永续市场创建，并将平台范围从加密货币代币扩展到与股票、商品和指数挂钩的工具。自2025年10月以来，HIP-3已在主网上运行，而支持预测和市场事件的HIP-4于2026年5月上线。Hyperliquid不断扩展的产品范围使其去中心化交易基础设施更接近传统上由美国商品和衍生品法规监管的市场。

尽管涉嫌交易发生在去中心化场所，但美国检察官Jamie McDonald表示，所使用的平台类型并不能免除被告的法律义务。“为了个人利益挪用机密信息进行衍生品市场交易是非法的，”McDonald说。他补充道，交易者不能通过使用永续合约、代币化证券或类似金融产品来规避美国的证券和商品法。”

美国检察官适用商品欺诈和电汇欺诈法

Chai和Xiang每人面临一项商品欺诈罪和一项电汇欺诈罪的指控。根据司法部说法，商品欺诈罪最高刑期为10年，电汇欺诈罪最高刑期为20年。任何判决将由联邦法官在考虑《美国量刑指南》和其他法定因素后确定。最高刑罚并不代表如果被告被定罪他们将获得的实际刑期。

此案为美国读者提供了一个直接示例，展示了即使交易不涉及普通股票或现货代币购买，联邦检察官如何追究涉嫌滥用公司加密信息的责任。检察官将涉嫌的永续头寸描述为利用从美国上市公司获取的信息进行的衍生品交易。

Robinhood在纳斯达克以HOOD代码交易，并通过Robinhood Crypto提供加密服务。其传统经纪业务、加密产品和衍生品业务通过不同的关联实体运营，具有不同的监管安排。Robinhood的官方披露指出，其美国期货和清算掉期业务通过Robinhood Derivatives运营，这是一家在美国商品期货交易委员会注册的未来佣金商人，也是全国期货协会的成员。Robinhood Crypto获纽约州金融服务部许可开展虚拟货币活动。

涉嫌的Hyperliquid交易与Robinhood自身平台上的客户交易分开。检察官指责这两名员工利用内部信息，而非指控Robinhood客户损失资金或券商操纵代币价格。

FBI调查导致出庭受审

FBI助理局长James C. Barnacle Jr.表示，工程师们据称利用通过就业获得的敏感信息谋取私利。据Barnacle称，这些指控表明，当员工被指控滥用公司机密信息时，FBI及其合作伙伴将采取行动。

Chai定于在加利福尼亚北区联邦法院首次出庭。Xiang则应于纽约南区联邦法院在美籍法官Ona T. Wang面前出庭。此时正值Robinhood增加基于区块链产品的使用。9月，其以太坊Layer-2网络经历了14分钟的区块生产暂停，暂时阻止了转账和智能合约调用获得确认。该网络于7月1日启动公共主网，提供95种代币化股票和全球120多个国家的钱包访问权限。该网络使用以太坊处理交易费用，并支持与兼容的钱包和应用程序，而其代币化产品与联邦投诉中描述的涉嫌加密上市交易无关。

两份投诉均不代表有罪认定。除非检察官在法庭上确凿证明指控成立，否则Chai和Xiang均被视为无罪。