Cryptocurrency Firm Founder Pleads Guilty to Market Manipulation in U.S. Court

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Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency financial services firm Gotbit, pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. federal charges related to a market manipulation scheme. Andriunin, a Russian national, and his company entered guilty pleas in federal court in Boston to charges of conspiring to commit market manipulation and wire fraud.

The guilty pleas came after Andriunin, 26, was extradited from Portugal in October, where he had been residing prior to his arrest. This followed a broad investigation into the cryptocurrency sector, known as “Operation Token Mirrors,” which involved the FBI’s creation of its own digital token to help catch fraudsters operating in the crypto market.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors have recommended that Andriunin be sentenced to up to two years in prison when he faces sentencing on June 16. Additionally, Gotbit has agreed to forfeit approximately $23 million worth of cryptocurrency.

From 2018 to 2024, Gotbit engaged in “wash trading,” a form of fraudulent trading in which assets are bought and sold with no intention of real market activity, to artificially inflate trading volumes for cryptocurrency clients. The goal was to make tokens appear more valuable to facilitate their listing and trading on larger exchanges. Andriunin was known to have developed a code specifically designed for wash trading, as he described in a 2019 interview.

The manipulation involved millions of dollars in wash trades, and Gotbit earned tens of millions of dollars in proceeds for its services. Some of the cryptocurrencies involved in the scheme included Saitama and Robo Inu, and individuals associated with these cryptocurrencies have also been charged.

Tether in Talks with ‘Big Four’ Firm for Reserve Audit, CEO Says

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Tether, the largest issuer of stablecoins, is in discussions with a “Big Four” accounting firm to conduct an audit of its reserves, a move CEO Paolo Ardoino described as a priority for the company. Tether has issued over $140 billion worth of its dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, and although it has long promised an audit, the company has yet to release a full audit of its financials.

Currently, Tether provides quarterly reports on its reserves but has not undergone a full audit. Ardoino emphasized that securing an audit is now “feasible” and a top priority for the company. He did not specify which of the four major accounting firms—PwC, EY, Deloitte, or KPMG—Tether is in talks with or provide a timeline for when the audit would take place.

Ardoino also linked the feasibility of the audit to U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on cryptocurrency. He argued that Trump’s support for digital assets could make it easier for Tether to engage with major accounting firms, in contrast to what the crypto industry has termed “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” referring to alleged efforts by U.S. regulators to restrict access to financial services for crypto companies.

Trump, during his campaign, pledged to be a “crypto president” and has since signed an executive order to establish a strategic cryptocurrency reserve and promised regulatory reforms for digital assets. Ardoino expressed confidence that with Trump’s backing, major auditing firms would be more inclined to work with Tether.

Additionally, Tether has recently appointed Simon McWilliams as its chief financial officer to guide the company toward a comprehensive financial audit. As part of its financial activities, Tether purchased more than $33.1 billion in U.S. Treasury bills in 2024, positioning it as the seventh-largest buyer of U.S. government debt.

As of December 31, Tether’s reserves included over $94 billion in U.S. Treasury bills and more than $108 million in cash and bank deposits, according to a quarterly report compiled by BDO Italia. Ardoino also confirmed that 99% of these Treasury bills are held with Wall Street brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, led by Howard Lutnick, who is closely connected to Trump’s administration.

US FAA’s Pilot Safety Messaging System Resumes After Brief Outage

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A key U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system that delivers safety messages to pilots, known as the “Notice to Airmen” (NOTAM) system, experienced a temporary outage for several hours on Saturday. The system resumed operations after being down for more than three hours, caused by a hardware issue. This incident follows another failure of the NOTAM system earlier in February.

The FAA confirmed that the main NOTAM system had suffered a “temporary outage” and was subsequently reset. The agency assured the public that it was investigating the root cause of the failure and was closely monitoring the situation. NOTAM provides crucial safety notices to pilots, flight crews, and other airspace users, including updates on operational changes such as runway closures, taxiway light malfunctions, or parachute activity nearby.

“All active NOTAMs were available until the time of the outage,” the FAA stated. On Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced plans to overhaul the aging U.S. air traffic control system and is expected to unveil further details next week.

A previous nationwide NOTAM outage in January 2023 led to a ground stop that affected over 11,000 flights, marking the first such U.S. disruption since 2001. In response, the FAA had outlined plans to phase out an older NOTAM system by mid-2025.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Nick Daniels emphasized the urgency of addressing the system’s shortcomings. Daniels suggested that the FAA would need at least $154 million for research and $354 million for a full replacement of the outdated NOTAM system. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has urged the FAA to take immediate action, noting that one-third of the agency’s air traffic control systems are unsustainable.