Robinhood Engineers Accused of Trading Ahead of Token Listings
Two Robinhood engineers, Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang, have been accused of using confidential information about upcoming cryptocurrency listings to trade on their own account. According to federal prosecutors, the pair repeatedly bought perpetual futures tied to specific tokens before Robinhood announced support for them in 2025 and 2026.
The alleged trades were made on a decentralized exchange called Hyperliquid, where Chai and Xiang allegedly cleared more than $50,000 each. Prosecutors say the confidential information was material and nonpublic, and that both engineers had a duty to keep it confidential.
The case highlights an old financial problem in modern plumbing: using corporate information to trade on its value. The alleged edge was Robinhood's internal listing plans, which Chai and Xiang allegedly used to trade derivatives on Hyperliquid.