Mitrade Insights is dedicated to providing investors with rich, timely and most valuable financial information to help investors grasp the market situation and find timely trading opportunities.

2021

Best News & Analysis Provider

FxDailyInfo

2022

Best Forex Educational Resources Global

International Business Magazine

Insights

News

Cryptocurrencies

Gotbit founder Aleksey Andryunin reaches settlement with US authorities, forfeits $23M in crypto

Source Cryptopolitan

The founder of Gotbit, Aleksey Andryunin, reached a settlement with US authorities in exchange for forfeiting $23M in crypto assets. The former CEO of the market maker service faced up to 20 years for money laundering charges.

Aleksey Andryunin, CEO and founder of the Gotbit market maker reached a settlement with US authorities. Andryunin avoided a 20-year sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation, linked to Gotbit’s services as a market maker.

Gotbit was accused of inflating volumes and creating unrealistic market valuations, which created risk for retail traders. One of the most affected tokens was Neiro on Ethereum (NEIRO), which later abandoned Gotbit after gaining more clarity on its wash trading practices.

The Russian national struck a deal with Massachusetts federal prosecutors, in which he agreed to forfeit 23M in crypto assets in exchange for paying no additional fines or facing a prison sentence. The plea agreement was detailed in a letter, which urged Andryunin to plead guilty as fast as possible as part of the deal.

For now, the sentencing has not been finalized, though the most probable outcome would be the forfeiture deal.

Andryunin faced sentencing of up to $500,000 in fines, to reflect the losses caused by aggressive wash trading. He also faced prison time of between 5 to 20 years, depending on the final sentencing, unless the plea deal is finalized.

Gotbit, which has existed since the 2017 bull market, was finally implicated in aggressive market-making services after the FBI launched a honeypot token. Several market markers were affected, but Gotbit was one of the most prominent cases. After the investigation, Andryunin was apprehended in Portugal and extradited to the USA for trial. The plea deal may mean Andryunin loses his right to stay in the country.

US authorities return to crypto forfeiture

The assets belonging to Gotbit have been stored in wallets controlled by Andryunin. The plea deal outlined the known addresses, which mostly contain stablecoins. After the forfeiture, the assets will be added to the crypto stockpile controlled by the US Government.

Andryunin’s wallets contained over $9M in USDT in one address, $4M in USDC and two more wallets holding $4.9M and $4.7M in USDT.

Andryunin's assets would be forfeited and become property of the US Government. — Andryunin’s assets would be forfeited and become the property of the US Government. | Source: Law360

Andryunin will have to cooperate in moving the ownership of those assets to the US government wallets. For now, it remains uncertain what the tokens would be used for. The addresses have not been frozen or blacklisted by either Tether or Circle, and the tokens are fully available.

The US Government still holds over $17.4B in crypto assets, including 122M USDT from forfeitures. The assets have not been auctioned for years, and the growing portfolio has suggested the creation of a crypto reserve using the forfeited assets.

Gotbit damaged the reputation of crypto projects

Gotbit’s activity was hardly noticed during the previous bull markets, as traders were still inexperienced. The meme token boom, however, drew attention to the practices of wash trading, especially for new assets.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT was among the first to track down assets connected to Gotbit. Those tokens were often facing pumps and crashes, causing deep losses for traders.

Among assets linked to Gotbit were Neiro on Ethereum (NEIRO), as well as Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) and Baby Doge.

NEIRO and its community were the first to react and save the token, returning to less liquid but organic trading. Without the involvement of Gotbit and the market hype, NEIRO returned to $0.0002, mostly relying on its loyal community.

Gotbit’s move was to anticipate token launches and immediately perform a 10X growth pump, which served to attract the attention of traders. This also allowed insiders to sell a maximum amount of tokens at a higher price, leaving a wider community of holders with a depreciating asset.

Gotbit’s actions were behind the success of the earlier wave of meme tokens, boosting memes that claimed their success was due to the community. Some of the traders even dismissed the effect of Gotbit as one of the natural features of token trading. Currently, market makers are still participating, though with less aggressive strategies. Wintermute remains one of the key market makers, with no claims of illicit activities or fake token pumps.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Recommended Articles

Gold ends three-week slide at the $4,400 line — eight straight days of ETF inflows vs a 5% 10-year and a 100 dollar Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

Author Suzie

Sep 20, Sun

Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

October hike odds climb toward 60% as Goldman and BofA both flip — what Warsh's "dose of accommodation" really changed Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

Author Irene Q.

Sep 23, Wed

Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

US input costs rose at the fastest pace in four years — the September flash PMI beat is an inflation story, not a growth story US September flash PMIs came in far above expectations, with the composite at 58.4, a five-year high. But the detail that moved markets was input cost inflation at its fastest since October 2022, driven by fuel, transport and supply shortages. Brent is back above $100 and the 10-year Treasury yield has hit its highest since 2007.

Author Suzie

Sep 24, Thu

US September flash PMIs came in far above expectations, with the composite at 58.4, a five-year high. But the detail that moved markets was input cost inflation at its fastest since October 2022, driven by fuel, transport and supply shortages. Brent is back above $100 and the 10-year Treasury yield has hit its highest since 2007.

Brent edges toward $99 as Trump rejects Iran's Hormuz proposal — why the war-risk premium won't rebuild Brent crude rose 0.92% to $98.51 and WTI gained 1.15% to $93.51 after President Trump rejected Iran's seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But both benchmarks remain about 12% below their early-September highs, because supply never actually stopped. Hormuz flows ran at 33.7 million barrels this week, in line with the prior week, and Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline restarted on September 22.

Author Suzie

20 hours ago

Brent crude rose 0.92% to $98.51 and WTI gained 1.15% to $93.51 after President Trump rejected Iran's seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But both benchmarks remain about 12% below their early-September highs, because supply never actually stopped. Hormuz flows ran at 33.7 million barrels this week, in line with the prior week, and Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline restarted on September 22.

Four jobs reports in five days: what JOLTS, ADP, claims and the September payrolls mean for the October Fed decision The US labour market faces its densest data week of the month. JOLTS job openings land Tuesday (7.2 million expected), ADP on Wednesday (70,000 expected), initial claims on Thursday and the September non-farm payrolls on Friday (100,000 expected, down from 162,000). Markets price a 64%-70% chance of another quarter-point Fed hike on October 28. The dollar index sits at 100.77 and the S&P 500 at 7,729.8.

Author Mitrade

20 hours ago

The US labour market faces its densest data week of the month. JOLTS job openings land Tuesday (7.2 million expected), ADP on Wednesday (70,000 expected), initial claims on Thursday and the September non-farm payrolls on Friday (100,000 expected, down from 162,000). Markets price a 64%-70% chance of another quarter-point Fed hike on October 28. The dollar index sits at 100.77 and the S&P 500 at 7,729.8.

Popular Symbols