Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of Gotbit, has been sentenced to 8 months imprisonment by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for orchestrating crypto market manipulation and generating fraudulent trading volumes. Following his release, Andriunin will undergo one year of supervised release, reflecting the court’s stringent stance on market integrity violations.
According to prosecutors, between 2018 and 2024, Andriunin and his team engineered artificial on-chain activity using sophisticated coding techniques and multiple accounts. This manipulation inflated trading volumes for various crypto projects, facilitating their listings on CoinMarketCap and major exchanges. Gotbit reportedly amassed tens of millions of dollars from these illicit activities, highlighting the financial impact of such deceptive practices within the crypto ecosystem.
In addition to Andriunin’s sentence, Gotbit faces five years of probation, during which it is barred from engaging in any related business operations. The legal proceedings included Andriunin’s arrest in Portugal in October 2024, extradition to the U.S. in February 2025, and a subsequent plea agreement in March, underscoring international cooperation in combating crypto fraud.