Market-maker founder sentenced, fined $10,000 for wash trade

The founder of a cryptocurrency market-making firm was sentenced in federal court in Boston on August 5, 2026, after admitting to orchestrating a widespread wash trading scheme. Liu Zhou, the 41-year-old founder of MyTrade, received a $10,000 fine and no prison time from U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley.

Zhou, a Canadian citizen of Chinese nationality, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. He was among 18 individuals and entities charged in a case that stemmed from an undercover FBI operation. As part of his plea agreement, Zhou’s company was required to permanently cease its illicit activities.

The charges centered on a service offered by MyTrade’s platform, MyTrade MM, called “Volume Support.” Through a website panel, clients could specify a desired amount of daily artificial trading activity for their cryptocurrencies on designated exchanges. MyTrade then used automated bots to execute simultaneous buy and sell orders for the same assets, often within the same second, creating the false appearance of robust market volume and liquidity. Prosecutors said the scheme involved approximately 60 different cryptocurrencies and...