美国监管机构联手向多家做市商收取费用，扣押超过 2500 万美元的加密货币

纽交所“专家”和港交所“做市商”被公认为重要的流动性提供者

The New York Stock Exchange's "specialists" and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's "market makers" are both recognized as important liquidity providers in the market, having considerable influence on market prices, especially in the crypto space where they hold the "power of life and death" over altcoins. Recently, U.S. regulators have teamed up to lure several market makers through sting operations, bringing charges of market manipulation and fraud.

纽交所的“专家”和港交所的“做市商”都被认为是市场上重要的流动性提供者，对市场价格有着相当大的影响力，尤其是在加密货币领域，他们掌握着“生命力和力量”。死亡”超过山寨币。最近，美国监管机构联手通过诱骗行动引诱多家做市商，并指控其操纵市场和欺诈。

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced joint charges on October 9 against eighteen individuals and entities for large-scale fraud and manipulation in the crypto market, including Gotbit Consulting, ZM Quant Investment, CLS Global, and Saitama.

美国证券交易委员会 (SEC)、联邦调查局 (FBI) 和司法部 (DOJ) 于 10 月 9 日宣布对 18 名个人和实体提起联合指控，罪名是在加密货币市场进行大规模欺诈和操纵，包括 Gotbit Consulting、ZM Quant Investment、CLS Global 和 Saitama。

According to court documents, these institutions secretly provided wash trading services to crypto projects, exaggerating trading volumes to create a false impression of trading activity and attracting investors to sell tokens at inflated prices. Among them, Gotbit is a market maker heavily involved in the MEME sector, participating in MEME projects such as BONK, ANALOS, DUKO, PENG, and SOLAMA. However, due to multiple collaborative projects being rug pulls, Gotbit has also faced scrutiny. In fact, Gotbit's founder, Alexey Andryunin, stated in an interview with Coindesk that the platform used market manipulation as a means of livelihood and described how it developed code to artificially inflate crypto trading volumes while avoiding detection. In that report, Andryunin claimed that Gotbit's market-making services could boost a token's "trading volume" to levels sufficient for listing on CoinMarketCap, even ranking between 300 and 500. However, Andryunin also admitted, "Gotbit's business is not registered in any jurisdiction and is not entirely ethical; doing what we do now on Nasdaq would constitute financial crime." Currently, Andryunin is charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to manipulate the market, wire fraud, and conspiracy to launder money.

法庭文件显示，这些机构秘密向加密货币项目提供清洗交易服务，夸大交易量，制造交易活动的假象，吸引投资者以虚高的价格出售代币。其中，Gotbit是深度涉足MEME领域的做市商，参与了BONK、ANALOS、DUKO、PENG、SOLAMA等MEME项目。然而，由于多个合作项目进展缓慢，Gotbit 也面临着审查。事实上，Gotbit 的创始人 Alexey Andryunin 在接受 Coindesk 采访时表示，该平台利用市场操纵作为谋生手段，并描述了如何开发代码来人为夸大加密货币交易量，同时避免被发现。在那份报告中，Andryunin 声称，Gotbit 的做市服务可以将代币的“交易量”提升到足以在 CoinMarketCap 上上市的水平，甚至排名在 300 到 500 之间。不过，Andryunin 也承认，“Gotbit 的业务没有在任何司法管辖区注册”而且不完全符合道德；我们现在在纳斯达克所做的事情将构成金融犯罪。”目前，Andryunin 被指控犯有电汇欺诈、共谋操纵市场、电汇欺诈和共谋洗钱等罪名。

The largest manipulator among them was Saitama, which once reached a market value of several billion dollars, with the project's leadership actively manipulating the market through various false public statements and secretly selling to gain tens of millions of dollars in profits. Saitama's market manipulation activities began in 2021 when the project created the illusion of large purchases and new holders by making small purchases of tokens through multiple crypto wallets, stimulating investor buying, and subsequently hired ZM Quant and Gotbit for wash trading on exchanges.

其中最大的操纵者是埼玉公司，其市值一度达到数十亿美元，项目领导层通过各种虚假公开言论积极操纵市场，并暗中抛售，获取数千万美元的利润。 Saitama的市场操纵活动始于2021年，当时该项目通过多个加密钱包小额购买代币，制造大额购买和新持有者的假象，刺激投资者购买，随后聘请ZM Quant和Gotbit在交易所进行洗盘交易。

ZM Quant claims to be a trading bot that can "create trading volume," providing market manipulation services for Saitama and NexFundAI. The lawsuit reveals that ZM Quant discussed these illegal services with clients through Telegram messages and video conferences, such as how to "possibly trade ten or twenty times" per minute to increase trading volume and raise prices, as well as how to use multiple trading wallets to avoid overly false trades.

ZM Quant 声称是一个可以“创造交易量”的交易机器人，为 Saitama 和 NexFundAI 提供市场操纵服务。诉讼显示，ZM Quant通过Telegram消息和视频会议与客户讨论这些非法服务，例如如何每分钟“可能交易十次或二十次”以增加交易量并提高价格，以及如何使用多个交易钱包以避免过度虚假交易。

CLS is also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market and wire fraud. CLS allowed each client's cryptocurrency to conduct millions of dollars in false trades daily, enabling these tokens to bypass exchange listing fees and inflate sales.

CLS 还被指控电汇欺诈、串谋操纵市场和电汇欺诈。 CLS 允许每个客户的加密货币每天进行数百万美元的虚假交易，使这些代币能够绕过交易所上市费用并夸大销售额。

The enforcement action against these crypto market makers was primarily driven by a sting operation from the FBI. Notably, the FBI created a token named NexFundAI on Ethereum and a crypto company called NexFundAI, using the identity of the company and the token to meet with market makers to discuss cooperation, including ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade, all of whom agreed to assist in manipulating the token.

针对这些加密货币做市商的执法行动主要是由联邦调查局的诱捕行动推动的。值得注意的是，FBI 在以太坊上创建了名为 NexFundAI 的代币和名为 NexFundAI 的加密货币公司，利用公司和代币的身份与做市商会面讨论合作，其中包括 ZM Quant、CLS Global 和 MyTrade，他们都同意协助操纵令牌。

Although the token had been traded, the FBI also monitored it to reduce the risk of retail investors purchasing it. On-chain information shows that the token's trading function was shut down 21 days ago.

虽然该代币已经被交易，但FBI也对其进行监控，以降低散户投资者购买的风险。链上信息显示，该代币的交易功能已于21天前关闭。

However, regarding the "sting token" issued by the FBI, Abstract Chain contributor @0xCygaar pointed out on X platform that the FBI allegedly violated the MIT License when issuing the NexFundAI token, which may constitute copyright infringement. The FBI directly copied several library files from OpenZeppelin in its smart contract but failed to attach the required license declaration in the code. According to the MIT License, all copies or significant portions of the software must include the license declaration.

不过，对于FBI发行的“Sting代币”，Abstract Chain贡献者@0xCygaar在X平台指出，FBI在发行NexFundAI代币时涉嫌违反了MIT License，可能构成版权侵权。 FBI 在其智能合约中直接复制了 OpenZeppelin 的多个库文件，但未能在代码中附加所需的许可证声明。根据 MIT 许可证，软件的所有副本或重要部分都必须包含许可证声明。

As for this investigation, U.S. Acting Attorney Joshua Levy stated, "This investigation is the first to identify numerous fraudsters in the cryptocurrency industry. Wash trading has long been prohibited in financial markets, and cryptocurrency is no exception. These cases demonstrate the result of innovative technology meeting century-old scams—inflated sales. We will actively pursue fraudulent activities, including within the crypto industry."

对于此次调查，美国代理检察官 Joshua Levy 表示，“这项调查是首次在加密货币行业中查出众多欺诈者。洗盘交易在金融市场上早已被禁止，加密货币也不例外。这些案例展示了创新的结果。”技术与百年骗局的结合——虚增销售。”

"Cryptocurrency will soon be regulated; it's just a matter of time. Regulation will help eliminate its gambling stigma," commented Ki Young Ju, founder of CryptoQuant, regarding this lawsuit event.

CryptoQuant 创始人 Ki Young Ju 在谈到这起诉讼事件时表示：“加密货币很快就会受到监管，这只是时间问题。监管将有助于消除其赌博的耻辱。”