Gotbit CEO Sentenced Eight Months for Crypto Market Manipulation

Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of Gotbit, has been sentenced to eight months in prison by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The court's decision comes after Andriunin was found guilty of manipulating the crypto market and fabricating trading volumes. Following his release, Andriunin will be subject to one year of supervised release, demonstrating the court's firm stance on maintaining market integrity.

Prosecutors allege that between 2018 and 2024, Andriunin and his team employed advanced coding techniques and multiple accounts to create artificial on-chain activity. This manipulation artificially inflated trading volumes for various crypto projects, enabling their listings on prominent platforms such as CoinMarketCap and major exchanges. The illicit activities reportedly generated tens of millions of dollars for Gotbit, underscoring the significant financial repercussions of such deceptive practices within the crypto industry.

In addition to Andriunin's sentence, Gotbit has been placed under five years of probation. During this period, the company is prohibited from engaging in any related business operations. The legal process involved Andriunin's arrest in Portugal in October 2024, his subsequent extradition to the U.S. in February 2025, and a plea agreement reached in March. This sequence of events highlights the international cooperation in combating crypto fraud and ensuring justice is served.