Crypto firm Gotbit’s founder Aleksei Andriunin has been sentenced for market manipulation and fraud conspiracy.

Andriunin, 26, received eight months in prison and one year of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in March 2025 after being arrested in Portugal and extradited to the US.

Gotbit must forfeit US$23 million in cryptocurrency and cease operations for five years under probation.

The charges stem from activities between 2018 and 2024. Gotbit conducted wash trading to inflate trading volumes and improve visibility on platforms like CoinMarketCap.

The firm used multiple accounts to avoid detection and executed trades worth millions. Clients included Robo Inu and Saitama, whose leaders face separate legal cases.

🔗 Source: United States Department of Justice

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Cryptocurrency wash trading: A persistent industry problem despite regulatory attention

The Gotbit case is part of a long-running battle against cryptocurrency market manipulation that began years ago.

In May 2018, the Department of Justice launched its first criminal probe into Bitcoin price manipulation, signaling early regulatory concern about market integrity issues1.

By 2018, “pump and dump” schemes had already generated over $825 million in trading activity across 175 identified schemes involving 121 different cryptocurrencies, according to Wall Street Journal analysis2.

This pattern of market manipulation has continued despite increased scrutiny, with Gotbit being one of the few market makers recently sentenced for wash trading—following MyTrade and CLS Global FZC LLC prosecutions3.

The coordinated operation that caught Gotbit was substantial, with authorities charging a total of 18 individuals and entities and seizing over $25 million in cryptocurrency4.

The persistence of these schemes highlights the continuing challenges regulators face in protecting crypto investors from sophisticated market manipulation tactics.

2️⃣ The evolving regulatory approach to cryptocurrency fraud

This case represents a milestone in how U.S. authorities are addressing cryptocurrency fraud after years of developing their approach.