‼️ HMSTR token market maker arrested in Portugal

Gotbit CEO Alexey Andryonin was arrested in Portugal at the request of the FBI and is awaiting extradition to the United States.

🐹 It is known that Gotbit Hedge Fund partnered with Hamster Kombat and was supposed to act as a market maker for the HMSTR token (🔽 This is likely the reason why the token dropped -11% yesterday in light of this news).

The United States has charged three companies and 15 individuals with cryptocurrency fraud. The defendants include Gotbit, ZM Quant, and CLS Global, along with their leaders and employees.

The charges resulted in four arrests, five plea agreements, and the seizure of more than $25 million in cryptocurrency.

I'm sure 99% of people didn't read the Reuters article, so here's a quick summary:

🔴 As part of the investigation, the FBI created its own token, NexFundAI, on the Ethereum blockchain and reached out to several market makers (MMs) to use their services.

🔴 In calls and private messages with the secret project, MM employees shared their algorithms for inflating volumes, creating multiple addresses to distribute organic tokens, and other techniques.

🔴 The FBI interpreted all MM services as “wash trading,” “fake transactions,” “market manipulation,” and “artificially inflating trade volume,” leading to charges that could result in up to 20 years in prison for the young individuals involved. 🤯