MyTrade founder fined $10K over crypto wash trading

MyTrade founder Liu Zhou was fined $10,000 after admitting that his crypto market-making platform used bots to conduct wash trades for dozens of tokens. Summary Liu Zhou pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. MyTrade bots generated millions of dollars in daily wash trades for about 60 cryptocurrencies. An FBI operation used the NexFundAI token to expose MyTrade’s market-manipulation services. MyTrade has shut down its wash-trading bots and acknowledged that its “Volume Support” service was illegal. MyTrade founder receives $10,000 fine A federal court in Boston ordered Liu Zhou, the founder and primary operator of crypto market maker MyTrade, to pay a $10,000 fine for his role in a market-manipulation conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley imposed the sentence, according to the Department of Justice. Zhou, 41, is a Canadian citizen and Chinese national. Federal prosecutors charged Zhou alongside 17 alleged co-conspirators in October 2024. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. MyTrade provided market-making services through its MyTrade MM website and application. Its products included a feature called ...