Aleksei Andriunin, founder of crypto hedge fund and market maker Gotbit, has been extradited from Portugal to the United States to face charges of market manipulation and wire fraud.
Arrest and Extradition to the United States
Andriunin was arrested by Portuguese authorities on October 8 and handed over to US officials on October 25. He subsequently appeared in federal court in Boston and was ordered to remain in custody following a decision by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
The extradition follows an October 31 federal grand jury indictment of Andriunin and two Gotbit directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili.
FBI Undercover Operation and Alleged Market Manipulation
The case involves an undercover FBI operation in which the agency created the “trap token” NexFundAI (NEXF) to detect individuals engaging in cryptocurrency market manipulation.
According to the charges, Gotbit operated as a market maker using software to conduct wash trades, creating fake trading volumes to help clients list tokens on exchanges and data aggregation platforms like CoinMarketCap.
Kedrov and Jalili are said to have promoted this tactic, and admitted in a 2019 interview that they used methods to hide transactions on the public blockchain.
From 2018 to 2024, Gotbit allegedly made “tens of millions of dollars” in illicit profits, some of which Andriunin transferred to his personal Binance account.
Possible Penalties
If convicted, Andriunin could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud, along with fines and asset forfeiture. Additionally, a charge of conspiracy to manipulate the market could result in up to five years in prison.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed fraud lawsuits against Gotbit and Kedrov in October, signaling a tightening of regulatory scrutiny of opaque cryptocurrency activities.
A Shift in Crypto Enforcement Policy in the United States
Under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, regulatory priorities for cryptocurrencies could shift. Government lawyers say that while financial fraud cases will continue to be pursued, the Justice Department may focus more on immigration.
Scott Hartman, co-head of the securities and commodities task force at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, revealed that fewer resources will be devoted to overseeing crypto crimes.
The SEC has recently dropped several major investigations and lawsuits targeting crypto companies. On February 24, 2025, Robinhood Markets Inc. announced that the SEC had concluded its investigation into its cryptocurrency trading division without taking any enforcement action.
Similarly, on February 21, 2025, Coinbase Global Inc. said the SEC had agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against the exchange that accused Coinbase of operating as an unregistered securities exchange.
Additionally, OpenSea also announced that the SEC had concluded its investigation into its NFT marketplace without taking any enforcement action.
These developments indicate a changing trend in cryptocurrency oversight policy in the United States, as the new administration may ease pressure on the sector in the coming time.
