Crypto Shock: Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Faces 8-Month Jail Sentence for Price Manipulation

Crypto market makers just got a reality check—regulators aren''t playing nice anymore. Gotbit and its founder Aleksei Andriunin just got slapped with an 8-month jail sentence for alleged price manipulation. Here''s the breakdown.

The Hammer Drops

No fancy DeFi loopholes or offshore shell games could save them this time. A court just handed down concrete consequences—because apparently, ''code is law'' doesn''t apply when you''re blatantly gaming the system.

The Irony

Funny how crypto''s loudest ''disruptors'' keep rediscovering old-school concepts like... jail. Maybe next they''ll ''innovate'' a way to bypass prison food.

One thing''s clear: the wild west days are over—unless you enjoy orange jumpsuits as the next crypto fashion trend.

• Gotbit and its founder, Aleksei Andriunin, were found guilty of using a wash trading system and other tactics to manipulate crypto trading volumes.
• The court has ordered that Andriunin be sentenced to eight months in prison, while Gotbit was ordered to forfeit $23 million in crypto and shut down operations for five years.

Gotbit, a leading crypto market-making firm, and its founder, Aleksei Andriunin, have been arrested and charged for their role in a scheme involving crypto market manipulation and fraud.

 According to details, the authorities found out that the firm used different methods to artificially inflate the value of crypto, thereby misleading investors and creating fake “hype” and a false sense of demand.

On the 13th of June, the United States Department of Justice reported that Aleksei Andriunin, founder of Gotbit, has been sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for his involvement in manipulating crypto volume.

Gotbit Operation and How It Manipulated the Market

From 2018 to 2024, Gotbit was one of the most used market makers in the crypto industry. It was used by different crypto projects, some of which were based in the U.S. and others with tokens accessible to U.S. investors. 

Having given this much power, the platform started to create fake trading volumes. Basically they did this in such a way that would cause some tokens to appear more active and valuable than they actually were.

Andriunin, the founder and CEO, confirmed this in an interview he did in 2019, where he openly spoke about building software that allowed him to “wash trade,” a method used to fake activity by trading assets between controlled accounts. With this wash trade method and maybe many more, Gotbit helped clients list their tokens on platforms like CoinMarketCap and large exchanges. 

The team even explained their strategies to clients, showing how they avoided detection by using several wallets to cover their tracks. In October 2024, Andriunin was arrested and later brought to the U.S. In February and in March 2025, he admitted guilt to wire fraud and conspiracy charges related to market manipulation.

As part of the punishment served, Gotbit had to give up around $23 million in crypto assets and was placed on probation for five years. The court also ruled that the company must shut down completely during the course of the probation.

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