Is Axelar a scam?
HIGH RISK · 57/100Axelar (AXL) has an automated risk score of 57/100 — high risk. Axelar is controlled by a very small number of wallets: On-chain: the top 10 holders control 53.9% of supply — majority control by a handful of addresses, a textbook manipulation setup. With this little distribution, the price can be pinned and dumped at will — the defining trait of a market-manipulation token. Down 98% from its all-time high — among the deepest drawdowns we measure. Volume is 63% of market cap — elevated, warrants monitoring.
Automated assessment · updated 31 August 2026
Axelar
axlHIGH RISK$0.0437
-5.28% (24h)
updating live price…
Risk Assessment
Risk Score
HIGH RISK
Driven primarily by drawdown from all-time high (25 of 25 points). Every contributing factor is itemised below.
measured 2026-08-31 · 7 factors evaluated
Here is what the public data shows about Axelar, ordered by how strongly each factor contributes to the score:
- Drawdown From All-Time High: Down 98% from its all-time high — among the deepest drawdowns we measure.
- On-Chain Holder Concentration: On-chain: the top 10 holders control 53.9% of supply — majority control by a handful of addresses, a textbook manipulation setup.
- Volume Anomaly: Volume is 63% of market cap — elevated, warrants monitoring.
- Market Cap Risk: Market cap under $100M — moderate manipulation risk.
These are automated, opinion-based indicators from public data — not financial advice or an allegation of wrongdoing. See our methodology.
Why this asset is flagged as high-risk
The patterns below are automated, opinion-based observations from public market data. They describe statistical risk indicators — not proof of wrongdoing by any project or person.
Verified on-chain: after excluding burn and labelled exchange, staking and liquidity wallets (team/vesting contracts are counted), the top 10 holders control more than half of the supply. This is direct evidence that a handful of wallets can dictate the price and dump it at will
Risk Factor Breakdown
Each factor is scored independently and weighted to calculate the total risk score.
Drawdown From All-Time High
Price Action
25/25
100%
How far the price sits below its peak. Deep drawdowns are common to abandoned and post-collapse tokens, but also to assets in a prolonged bear market — on its own this measures price history, not conduct.
Volume Anomaly
Trading Signals
7/20
35%
Abnormal volume-to-market-cap ratio is the primary indicator of wash trading or liquidity traps
Market Cap Risk
Market Structure
3/15
20%
Small market caps can be trivially manipulated by a single large holder (whale)
Price Volatility
Price Action
2/15
13%
Extreme short-term price swings are a hallmark of coordinated pump-and-dump schemes
On-Chain Holder Concentration
Tokenomics
18/22
82%
Verified holder data. Burn and labelled exchange, staking, bridge and LP wallets are excluded; unlabelled contracts (often team/vesting multisigs) are counted. Over 50% in the top 10 enables single-hand price control.
Not contributing (2): Supply Structure, Transparency Gaps — 0 points.
Key Metrics
Protect Yourself
- • Never invest more than you can afford to lose entirely
- • Check token concentration — if top 10 wallets hold >50%, be cautious
- • Verify the team is public and doxxed
- • Read the smart contract audit before buying
- • Be wary of unrealistic APY promises
Embed Risk Badge
Writing about this coin? Embed our live risk badge — it updates automatically with each daily scan.
Community Comments
Loading comments…
What the contract allows
Ethereum · measured 2026-09-16
Axelar’s deployed contract grants its owner 2 privileges that can affect your position. These are properties of the code itself, not allegations about anyone’s conduct — many legitimate projects retain them deliberately.
Owner can change any wallet balance
A privileged address can alter balances directly, including reducing yours.
Owner can mint new tokens
Supply is not fixed; new tokens can be created, diluting existing holders.
Checked and not present: pause all transfers, blacklist wallets, ownership can be reclaimed after renouncing, contract has a hidden owner, contract can self-destruct.
Source code: published and verified, so the deployed bytecode can be independently reviewed.
Contract analysis from GoPlus Labs · verify on-chain. An upgradeable contract can change after this reading.
How we counted holders here
Ten largest wallets
70.7%
including custodial
Largest private wallets
53.9%
after excluding 4
4 of Axelar’s ten largest holders are labelled exchange, market-maker, treasury or vesting, liquidity-pool, staking, bridge, multisig or burn addresses — supply that is custodied, pooled or destroyed rather than sitting in one person’s wallet. Separating them out moves the top-10 figure by 16.8 points. We report the private-wallet figure because that is the supply someone can actually choose to sell today.
Wallets excluded from the top 10
| Address | Classified as | Label | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x54d1…cbf9 | Exchange wallet | Bithumb · Bithumb: Hot Wallet | 13.46% |
| 0xa9d1…3e43 | Exchange wallet | Coinbase · Coinbase: Hot Wallet | 2.54% |
| 0xf977…acec | Exchange wallet | Binance 8 | 2.11% |
| 0x5a52…efcb | Exchange wallet | Binance · Binance 28 | 2.04% |
Classification applied to the 100 holder records returned for this contract; 86 remained after exclusions · measured 2026-08-31. Custodial wallets are identified by public address labels, so an unlabelled one may still be counted as private — this correction is a floor, not a guarantee.
Axelar holder-concentration history
7 daily measurements · -0.1 pts over the period
FraudCoins.com has measured the share of Axelar’s supply held by its top 10 non-exchange wallets on 7 days since 23 Jul 2026. The highest reading was 54% on 23 Jul 2026; the most recent reading is 53.9% on 31 Aug 2026.
Composite risk score (0–100)
Recorded measurements (7)
| Date measured | Top 10 hold | Flagged |
|---|---|---|
| 53.9% | Yes | |
| 50.7% | Yes | |
| 50.5% | Yes | |
| 50.6% | Yes | |
| 50.7% | Yes | |
| 49.8% | No | |
| 54% | Yes |
Each row is an automated measurement taken on the date shown, using public on-chain holder data with burn and labelled exchange, staking, bridge and liquidity wallets excluded. Historical readings describe what our model measured on that date — they are not statements about the project’s conduct then or now, and are not financial advice.
Track Axelar and 1,200+ other assets
One email when any coin newly crosses our 50% top-10 holder-concentration threshold. No account needed.
Confirmed opt-in, unsubscribe in one click. We don’t sell your data — see our privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions about Axelar
Is Axelar a scam?
We do not allege that Axelar (AXL) is a scam, and we have no evidence of wrongdoing by anyone associated with it. What we can tell you is what we measured: Its ten largest private wallets hold 53.9% of supply (exchange, staking, bridge and burn addresses excluded). That places it at 57/100 on our automated scale, which we label high risk. A high score means the asset has structural characteristics that have historically preceded losses — not that fraud has occurred. These are automated, opinion-based indicators from public market and on-chain data — not statements of fact, financial advice, or allegations of wrongdoing.
Why is Axelar flagged as high risk?
Axelar's risk score is driven mainly by: drawdown from all-time high — Down 98% from its all-time high — among the deepest drawdowns we measure; on-chain holder concentration — On-chain: the top 10 holders control 53.9% of supply — majority control by a handful of addresses, a textbook manipulation setup; volume anomaly — Volume is 63% of market cap — elevated, warrants monitoring.
Who controls Axelar's supply?
On-chain data shows the top 10 holders of Axelar control 53.9% of the supply, after excluding burn and labelled exchange, staking, bridge and liquidity wallets. At that level, a small number of wallets can move the price at will and sell their position at once.
Is Axelar safe to buy?
FraudCoins.com does not give buy or sell recommendations, and no cryptocurrency is safe. Axelar scores 57/100 (high risk) on our automated risk model. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.