PANews reported on March 20 that according to Decrypt, Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin has reached a plea agreement with US authorities and will forfeit $23 million in crypto assets related to market manipulation charges. Court documents cited by Law360 show that Andriunin's participation in Gotbit caused "decentralized market participants" who purchased cryptocurrencies to suffer financial "damages" and they purchased cryptocurrencies at "fraudulently inflated prices." Gotbit's founder was extradited to the United States in late February after he was arrested in Portugal four months ago.

The plea agreement could result in Andriunin spending no time in prison and not having to pay additional fines beyond the forfeiture of assets. However, the court retains final discretion over the terms of the sentence. The civilly forfeited assets total $23 million, including stablecoins issued by Tether and Circle, held in four wallets that Andriunin “fully controls.” Court documents show that Andriunin will be subject to three years of supervised release, during which he is strictly prohibited from engaging in any crypto activity.

Earlier in November last year, the US Department of Justice sued Gotbit's CEO for allegedly planning large-scale false transactions .