Gotbit founder and CEO Aleksei Andriunin has been sentenced to eight months in prison by the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts for manipulating the cryptocurrency market through wash trading. Following his prison term, Andriunin will undergo one year of supervised release. The court found that from 2018 to 2024, Andriunin and his team engaged in creating fake trading volumes for various crypto projects, facilitating their listings on platforms like CoinMarketCap and attracting major exchanges. Gotbit reportedly earned tens of millions of dollars from these activities. In addition to Andriunin's sentence, Gotbit has been placed on a five-year probation, prohibiting the company from operating in related businesses. Andriunin was apprehended in Portugal in October 2024, extradited to the U.S. in February 2025, and entered a plea agreement in March 2025.