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Crypto Price Manipulation and Securities Fraud Lead to Two Prison Sentences

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Two men have been sentenced for manipulating the price of Hydrogen Technology’s cryptocurrency, HYDRO, and scheming to defraud investors.

This case marks the first time a jury in a federal criminal trial has classified a cryptocurrency as a security and found that price manipulation of cryptocurrency constitutes securities fraud.

$300M HYDRO Crypto Fraud Scheme

Court documents and trial evidence revealed that Kane, the co-founder and CEO of Hydrogen Technology, and Hampton, the Head of Financial Engineering at the company, enlisted Moonwalkers Trading Limited of South Africa to manipulate the price of HYDRO. From October 2018 to April 2019, the firm used an automated trading bot to create fake and fraudulent orders on a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange.

Kane, Hampton, and their co-conspirators conducted approximately $7 million in “wash trades” and placed over $300 million in “spoof trades” for HYDRO. These trades misled retail investors into purchasing HYDRO at artificially inflated prices, resulting in the conspirators’ profit of approximately $2 million over ten months.

“Shane Hampton, Michael Kane, and their co-conspirators defrauded investors by using a trading bot to manipulate the price of their company’s cryptocurrency,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Price Manipulation and Securities Fraud

Kane pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. Hampton was convicted by a federal jury on February 7 of one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The jury unanimously determined that the defendants’ sales of HYDRO were investment contracts, thus classifying the token as a security under federal securities law. This trial was the first criminal jury trial in which a cryptocurrency was deemed a security.

Two additional co-conspirators, Andrew Chorlian and Tyler Ostern, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and wire fraud. Both have been previously sentenced.

Shane Hampton, 32, of Philadelphia, received a sentence of two years and 11 months in prison. His co-conspirator, Michael Kane, 39, of Miami Beach, Florida, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

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4 Things That Could Rattle Bitcoin and Crypto Markets This Week

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Crypto markets took a big dip in late trading on Sunday, with Bitcoin falling below $100,000 for the first time since early May, but it appears to be recovering already.

Markets have been highly volatile over the past week amid geopolitical tensions and the US air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.

Those tensions escalated with Iran threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz, a key shipping channel, which would impact global oil prices.

Russia has also reportedly stated that countries are ready to supply Iran with nuclear weapons.

Economic Events June 23 to 27

Key inflation data is due this week, kicking off with June’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI and Services PMI preliminary readings on Monday,

These purchasing managers’ indexes are leading economic indicators used by analysts to gain insights into changing economic conditions and rates of change.

Tuesday will see home sales data and consumer confidence reports released, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be speaking before Congress to give lawmakers an update on the central bank’s views on inflation and the economy.

Thursday will see more GDP data released for Q1, which will paint a broader picture of the state of the economy and what to expect going forward.

Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) for May is the big report of the week as it tracks changes in inflation based on consumer spending. The Fed considers the annualized Core PCE Price Index its preferred gauge for inflation in the US.

A very busy economic calendar combined with increased tensions in the Middle East is likely to create a very volatile week ahead for crypto markets.

Crypto Market Outlook

Digital assets continued to weaken over the weekend following US military action in the Middle East and more rhetoric from Iran and Russia as the situation escalates.

Markets lost 4% in a fall to $3.15 trillion but managed to recover slightly during early trading in Asia on Monday morning.

Losses were led by Bitcoin, which fell to $98,500 briefly in its first sub-six-figure dip since May 8. However, BTC had reclaimed the $101,000 level at the time of writing.

Ethereum dumped more than 7% in a fall to $2,135, its lowest level since it broke above $2,000 in early May. Nevertheless, it also made a minor recovery to trade around $2,240 on Monday morning.

Altcoins were all in the red aside from Hyperliquid as markets continue to weaken again.

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Metaplanet Buys 1,111 BTC, Total Holdings Now Top $1.1 Billion

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Metaplanet Inc. has announced a 1,111 BTC purchase, pushing its total holdings to 11,111 BTC valued at over $1.12 billion.

This latest acquisition, executed at an average price of approximately $106,408 per Bitcoin, further solidified the Tokyo-based investment firm’s position among the world’s top ten largest corporate holders of the original cryptocurrency, increasing its lead over Coinbase in 10th place and trailing Hut 8 in 8th by 273 BTC.

Metaplanet Sets Its Sights Higher

Chairman Simon Gerovich confirmed the buy via a post on X, where he revealed that the company was targeting 30,000 BTC before the end of 2025. Additionally, in an infographic shared in a follow-up post, Gerovich outlined his firm’s path to hitting 210,000 BTC by 2027.

He projects the company acquiring 70,000 BTC in 2026 to get to 100,000, and adding another 110,000 the following year to own exactly 1% of the entire Bitcoin supply.

Metaplanet’s rapid rise, from 97.850 BTC in April 2024, has been driven by relentless capital market activity. The organization has utilized a combination of stock acquisition rights and zero-coupon bond issuances, primarily directed to EVO FUND, to fuel its Bitcoin accumulation strategy.

The 1,111 BTC, bought for $118.2 million, follows a similar pattern, coming weeks after a $117 million acquisition of 1,112 BTC on June 16, which increased its holding to 10,000 BTC. Before that, the firm purchased 1,088 BTC on June 2 for approximately $117.5 million. Its average buy-in across all 11,111 BTC now stands at $95,869.

Metaplanet measures success through the “BTC Yield” metric, reflecting Bitcoin accretion per fully diluted share. In a statement shared on X, the firm revealed that the metric has soared 306.7% year-to-date, with a particularly strong 107.9% gain between April 1 and June 23, translating to a hypothetical gain of 4,367 BTC purely from operations, worth ¥66.189 billion at their reference price.

Despite this aggressive strategy, the company’s stock was down 5.39% at the time of this writing, changing hands at ¥1,685, possibly due to heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following the United States’ bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The dip was also witnessed in the price of Bitcoin. Currently trading at around $101,511, the asset is down 4.5% over the past week and 6.5% in the last month.

BTC Treasuries Catching On

Metaplanet’s buying spree is not just reshaping its own balance sheet; it signals a deepening institutional embrace of Bitcoin as a core treasury reserve asset.

According to HODL15Capital, by June 16, 24 companies had increased their holding of the number one crypto asset by an additional 11,902 units. These include Singapore’s Genius Group, which bought 100 BTC and is targeting 1,000, and Sweden’s first Bitcoin treasury company, H100, which recently increased its ownership of the asset to 169 BTC.

Others, such as China’s DDC Enterprise and New York-based Mercurity, are planning to raise $528 million and $800 million, respectively, to purchase Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Bounces to $102K but Crypto Market Tensions Remain (Market Watch)

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The cryptocurrency market continues to experience heightened volatility, which is evident in the elevated liquidation levels across the derivatives market.

Bitcoin has reclaimed the pivotal $100K mark but the broader situation remains uncertain as the industry remains under the heavy influence of macroeconomic and geopolitical events.

Bitcoin Price Bounces to $102K

As we reported yesterday, the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated. The US joined the war and striked three strategic Irany sites, causing immediate turmoil on international markets with crypto being no exception.

In response, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz – a critical chokepoint for oil transport, which resulted in even more highly elevated oil prices.

Amid all of this, Bitcoin’s price tumbled below $100,000 for the first time since May and reached an intraday bottom at around $98,000.

The bulls took control, however, and managed ot stage a recovery, with the price currently trading at slightly less than $102,000. The situation remains obviously uncertain, however, and very volatile, which can be seen by the elevated liquidaitons across derivatives markets. Coinglass reports over $600M liquidated in the past 24 hours – that figured surpassed $1 billion yesterday.

BTCUSD_2025-06-23_13-17-57
Source: TradingView

Altcoins Remain Shaky

Some altcoins managed to recover better than BTC throughout the same period, while others remain largely in the red. A notable example here is HYPE, which is up by almost 6% in the past 24 hours, where the broader majority of major altcoins are trading either flat or continue losing value against BTC.

Screenshot 2025-06-23 at 13.19.25
Source: Quantify Crypto

Story (IP), alongside Sonic (S), and KAIA are the best-performing cryptocurrencies for the day, up in the range between 7.5% and 10%.

On the other hand, Mantle’s MNT and Bitget Token (BGB) failed to capitalize on the recovery and are down by 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively.

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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

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