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MyTrade founder fined $10,000 for wash trading via volume bots
U.S. prosecutors said the service generated millions of dollars in fake daily volume across roughly 60 cryptocurrencies through bots executed on clients' orders.
Decrypt reports that MyTrade founder Liu Zhou was fined $10,000 for running a crypto wash trading service that used automated bots to inflate trading volume across the market.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Zhou pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud, and was sentenced Thursday in Boston federal court by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley without a custodial term, according to Law360.
The MyTrade dashboard let clients select a daily “volume support” target, then bots repeatedly bought and sold the same assets to create fake volume on named exchanges, producing millions of dollars in apparent daily activity across roughly 60 cryptocurrencies.
Prosecutors also said the sting involved a fictitious crypto company that solicited market making services, and Zhou’s plea agreement required MyTrade to stop selling the service and permanently deactivate the bots, while requiring the firm to post a notice that volume support is wash trading and illegal under U.S. law.