Clanker developer exposed for "stealing Velodrome funds" and exits team after running into former colleague at offline event

Author: Weilin, PANews

Recently, Clanker, an AI Agent launch platform deployed on Base, has been caught in a public controversy. In the early hours of May 5, Jack Dishman, founder and CEO of Clanker, announced on X that project developer _proxystudio had decided to resign immediately. The reason for his departure was exposure of a surprising "past record"—he had previously stolen approximately $350,000 from the team wallet while working at the well-known DeFi project Velodrome Finance.

Although _proxystudio later returned the funds, the incident still caused significant negative impact and affected his work at Clanker.

As of 10 a.m. on May 7, _proxystudio's latest post remained a repost of a tweet from May 2, with no public response yet from the developer regarding this matter. However, some users pointed out that according to ClankerNews, internal conflicts within Clanker due to disagreements with Zora led to _proxystudio being ousted, although there are also claims suggesting ClankerNews is operated by _proxystudio himself.

Once Warned Public Against Scammers, Yet Stole $350K from Velodrome

According to Alex Cutler, core member of Velodrome and co-founder of Aerodrome Finance, who recently revealed on X, _proxystudio’s previous identity was actually Gabagool.eth. Some crypto users also identified him as the person behind ClankerNews. He was once a widely recognized figure in the crypto industry—not only as founder of Information Token but also invited by Vice News to appear in a documentary about crypto scams, warning the public against fraudsters. Ironically, just months after appearing in the documentary, he orchestrated an insider theft at a DeFi project.

The $350,000 theft nearly collapsed the Velodrome team. Recalling the event, Alex said Velodrome launched during the Luna crash amid turbulent market conditions, with only $350,000 left in the team’s treasury. “One day, a month after launch, we woke up and found it—gone.”

Initially, the broader community assumed the team had “rugged” (i.e., scammed and fled). Since Alex was the only publicly identified team member, he became the target of widespread criticism. “I was new to this space, and he made me take the blame,” Alex wrote.

He revealed that prior to the incident, Gabagool had joked about “dreaming that our funds were drained” and tested privacy tools like Tornado Cash. Knowing Alex was stranded in Europe due to the pandemic and in poor health, Gabagool struck when the team was most vulnerable.

“Even more infuriating was that when confronted directly by the Velodrome team and asked to return the funds, Gabagool demanded to ‘keep 10% as a fee,’” Alex wrote.

On August 13, 2022, Velodrome issued a statement following the theft: “The attacker managed to withdraw $350,000 from this [team-owned] wallet… To our extreme disappointment, we discovered the attacker was our own team member, Gabagool.”

Later, Velodrome confirmed that Gabagool had returned the funds but ultimately decided to sever ties with the developer. However, the repercussions of the incident did not end there.

Proxystudio warned the public against fraud in a Vice documentary

According to Alex, Proxystudio posted an “apology” and then disappeared. At the time, he and the team chose not to pursue legal action for the following reasons: 1) The amount might not have been sufficient to prompt law enforcement action; 2) They lacked funds to address the issue and no way to rescue the compromised protocol; 3) His sister pleaded with them not to proceed, saying he might be suicidal.

The situation took a turn on April 30 this year during FarCon, a joint Farcaster and Clanker event. According to Alex Cutler, he unexpectedly recognized Gabagool at a Clanker event in SoHo, New York.

“I saw him—the man who nearly destroyed my life,” Alex wrote in a follow-up post. He said that after confirming the identity, he confronted Gabagool on the spot and told him: “You have 24 hours to reveal your identity, or I will do it for you.”

Faced with Alex’s confrontation, Gabagool initially tried to deny his identity but eventually dropped the pretense and attempted private “communication.” Alex chose to walk away but decided not to stay silent any longer.

Clanker Responds Swiftly, Community Highlights Importance of Background Checks

Upon learning that Gabagool was involved in the past theft, the Clanker team responded swiftly. On May 5, founder Jack Dishman stated: “Clanker recently became aware of proxystudio’s conduct during his prior employment. Following the disclosure of this information, proxystudio has decided to immediately resign from Clanker.”

Jack Dishman added, “We want to assure our community, partners, and stakeholders that Clanker’s operations and assets are unaffected by this incident. This matter relates solely to activities that occurred prior to his joining our organization.” He continued, “Our team is implementing an emergency transition plan to ensure continuity across all operations. We remain committed to transparency and integrity, and to delivering an exceptional token experience for our community. Thank you for your continued support and trust during this time.”

Alex Cutler also stated that it has now been proven _proxystudio is our disgraced former teammate gabagool.eth, and he personally guarantees that Jack Dishman was completely unaware of this situation and handled it perfectly. The Clanker team has his full support, as well as that of the Aerodrome team.

There is currently no evidence that Gabagool engaged in any malicious activity during his tenure at Clanker (the project launched in November 2024). Clanker’s token CLANKER reached a historic high of $128 shortly after launch, achieving a valuation of $128 million. However, the token later declined alongside the broader AI agent sector and is now trading at $25.80. Since launch, Clanker has generated $27 million in fee revenue, with an average daily income of approximately $38,000 in May so far.

Regarding the root cause of this incident, @ninja_dev3, founder of Quick Intel, commented: “How have we not reached a stage where people undergo full personal vetting? From both project and ecosystem perspectives. We’ve encountered this multiple times in other projects. My biggest concern is why no checks were done.” In response, Alex agreed this is a major issue, though a difficult one. “Background checks wouldn’t uncover this—there are no links between individuals. I bet the money in his wallet was laundered, etc. I have some ideas, but it’s not easy.”

For now, this incident serves as a warning to the crypto industry: gaps in team member vetting processes may lead to losses for projects. Gabagool was once a celebrated voice in the industry, which is precisely why the impact was so wide-reaching. This time, the Clanker team responded decisively, but _proxystudio has yet to issue any public statement, leaving lingering questions around the event.