Crypto Market Maker Founder Sentenced for Illegal Trading Scheme
Aleksei Andriunin, the 26-year-old founder of Gotbit, a crypto market maker, will spend eight months in prison for his role in a massive wash trading operation. This scheme artificially inflated the trading volume of various cryptocurrencies. Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court in Boston handed down the sentence after Andriunin’s guilty plea in March 2025.
Andriunin, a citizen of both Russia and Portugal, was caught in Portugal in October 2024 and sent to the U.S. in February 2025. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to give up $23 million in stablecoins linked to Gotbit.
Gotbit Consulting LLC, Andriunin’s firm, faces five years of probation and must stop all operations. the company offered wash trading services from 2018 to 2024, making client tokens seem more active to get them listed on exchanges and CoinMarketCap. Robo Inu and Saitama were some of the tokens involved.
Gotbit used multiple accounts to hide their activities and received large sums from clients. <a href="
