ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency market maker Gotbit, accusing him of committing wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market. It is reported that Andriunin artificially inflated cryptocurrency trading volumes through "fake trades" from 2018 to 2024 to help projects get listed on CoinMarketCap and cryptocurrency exchanges.Prosecutors pointed out that Andriunin provided fake trading services for meme coins including Robo Inu and Saitama, with illegal proceeds transferred to his personal Binance account. Previously, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Gotbit and three other cryptocurrency companies on October 9, seizing over $25 million in cryptocurrency. If Andriunin is convicted of wire fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Other conspiracy charges could carry a maximum sentence of 5 years.ChainCatcher previously reported that the official Gotbit account posted on X stating: "Our CEO Alex Andryunin has been arrested in Portugal. We currently have no further details, but rest assured that your account with Gotbit is safe. Our goal is to prove the innocence of the company and CEO Alex Andryunin. We are fully prepared to cooperate with the authorities, provide all necessary documents to support the investigation, and quickly resolve this misunderstanding. We will update as soon as more information is available."

ChainCatcher news, the market maker Gotbit officially posted on X: "Our CEO Alex Andryunin has been arrested in Portugal. We currently have no further details, but rest assured that your account at Gotbit is safe. Our goal is to prove the innocence of the company and CEO Alex Andryunin. We are fully prepared to cooperate with the authorities, providing all necessary documents to support the investigation and quickly resolve this misunderstanding. We will update you promptly as more information becomes available."

ChainCatcher news reports that after the U.S. government sued the market maker Gotbit, the meme coin projects Beercoin and WaterCoin, along with Hamster Kombat and Neiro, also issued statements clarifying their relationship with Gotbit.Beercoin stated on the X platform: "The BEER team has long ceased cooperation with Gotbit and has turned to other market makers."WaterCoin stated: "We want to clarify that we do not cooperate with Gotbit and have no association with them. After the launch of WATER, we expressed concerns about Gotbit's integrity and changed our market maker." However, there are users in the comment section of these two projects' clarification posts who express skepticism about their statements.In addition, Lookonchain posted on October 10 that Gotbit previously claimed they sold WATER to bring the price down to a fair level. However, the number of tokens sold by Gotbit far exceeded the number purchased.Previously, Neiro announced the termination of its partnership with market maker Gotbit; Hamster Kombat stated that it has never cooperated with market maker Gotbit.

ChainCatcher news, the Telegram ecological game Hamster Kombat stated on the X platform: "We are committed to ensuring the transparency of the Hamster ecosystem. In light of the recent news regarding Gotbit, we want to clarify that Hamster Kombat has never collaborated with Gotbit as a market maker."Previous news, U.S. prosecutors have charged four cryptocurrency "market makers" and their employees with market manipulation and fraud, including Gotbit.

ChainCatcher news, in response to crypto detective ZachXBT questioning why Neiro initially chose the notoriously poor-reputed Gotbit as a market maker, Neiro's CTO co-lead "S" stated that when Sun Yuchen's tweet led to its listing on HTX, there was actually only a few hours to find one, making time critical. The choice of Gotbit was partly because the market maker offered a retention agreement at that time, which was the most affordable option so far, and partly because the project viewed it as a quick solution for the HTX listing (with the agreement with Gotbit lasting 3 months), planning to explore other options when the budget allowed. Additionally, there was a lack of judgment experience regarding the industry; although they had heard various bad things about Gotbit, they had also heard bad things about almost everyone in the industry, making it difficult to make a judgment."S" also mentioned: "I had not had direct contact with Gotbit before, so I chose to trust them and gave them a chance. Gotbit also marketed itself as a 'meme coin friendly' market maker, which seemed like an attractive proposition.""S" concluded: "But ultimately, I take full responsibility for this; I should have been more careful. I am deeply pained by this outcome and have paid a huge price for it. At the same time, it has given us a tremendous learning opportunity, forcing us to fundamentally improve the project by collaborating with better and more market makers to reduce counterparty risk and upgrade the Neiro trading market."Previous news, on-chain detective ZachXBT commented on Neiro's announcement to terminate its partnership with market maker Gotbit, suggesting that perhaps Neiro should explain to the community why they initially chose Gotbit, given their consistently poor reputation and the substantial evidence of Gotbit's price manipulation behavior before the U.S. government accused them of fraud and market manipulation this week.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly filed lawsuits on October 9 against four cryptocurrency companies suspected of fraud and market manipulation, including Gotbit Consulting, ZM Quant Investment, and CLS Global. These manipulated tokens were then sold at artificially inflated prices to unsuspecting buyers. These companies also promoted these tokens and persuaded exchanges to lower fees, further increasing profits.Gotbit is the largest company on this list. This market maker collaborated with well-known brands such as Bonk, Neiro, Hamster Kombat, and Robo Inu. At its peak, the company managed assets totaling $1.5 billion and made nearly $200 million in investments through Gotbit Ventures. Gotbit now faces a maximum fine of $5 million or twice the amount of illegal gains or losses, as well as asset forfeiture. The CEO, who is also facing charges, could face up to 20 years in prison.It is reported that in 2019, Gotbit's 20-year-old CEO Alexey Andryunin told CoinDesk about his practices: Gotbit was not registered in any jurisdiction because it was "not entirely ethical." In 2023, ZachXTB uncovered Andryunin's operations with the help of some leaked documents and a promotional material that stated: "In the first few minutes of the price discovery phase, we will push the price up 10 times to create FOMO and accumulate as much buying power as possible, and sell the most tokens during the subsequent surge."

ChainCatcher message, on-chain detective ZachXBT commented on Neiro's announcement to terminate its partnership with the market maker Gotbit, suggesting that Neiro should perhaps explain to the community why they initially chose Gotbit, as their reputation has been poor. Before the U.S. government accused them of fraud and market manipulation this week, there was substantial evidence indicating that Gotbit engaged in pump-and-dump activities.

ChainCatcher message, Neiro's official announcement states that it has terminated its partnership with the market maker Gotbit. Issues involving Gotbit or its employees do not pertain to Neiro and are unrelated to Neiro. It is the right decision for the Neiro project and community to maintain distance.Neiro has withdrawn some market maker funds back to the community's multi-signature, and while waiting for the remaining funds, CTO S will use his personal funds to allocate to the market makers. To ensure a seamless transition, Neiro will collaborate with a new market maker within a few hours or days after the publication of this article.

ChainCatcher message, the founder of Gotbit Hedge Fund published internal research on the platform, stating that the main reason why TON chain memes cannot break through and maintain a market value of 10 million USD is their lack of activity on the X platform.The X platform provides an opportunity for the dissemination of meme coins on SOL, allowing exposure in other meme communities simply through tags/comments, which TG channels cannot achieve.

ChainCatcher news, hedge fund Gotbit Hedge Fund announced the completion of a million-dollar investment in Layer 1 blockchain 5ireChain. The latter will use this round of financing to deepen ecosystem innovation.ChainCatcher previously reported, Layer 1 blockchain 5ireChain announced the launch of a $10 million grant program "5ireGrantsProgram," focusing on projects in areas such as multi-chain, EVM compatibility, and real-world assets (RWA). The program will start on March 1, providing up to $100,000 in funding support for participating projects.

ChainCatcher news, hedge fund Gotbit Hedge Fund announced a partnership agreement with the Solana ecosystem meme project BLOCK (@blockonsol), becoming its official market maker and providing partnership, marketing consulting, and CEX expansion services.

ChainCatcher news, the Solana-based meme project analoS announced on social media that it has secured a $1 million investment from the hedge fund Gotbit Hedge Fund, which will be used to initiate a $1 million token buyback program.It is reported that the analoS team will conduct buybacks on both decentralized and centralized exchanges. All purchased ANALOS tokens will be allocated to its treasury for future purposes such as listing, marketing transactions, and airdrops.