Meet the ICO Pumper Who Makes His Living Manipulating Crypto Markets

How do you get into the business of market manipulation? It's easy if you try.

Alexey Andryunin, a 20-year old college student from Moscow, became a sensation after he quite openly told CoinDesk how his company was helping little-known token projects get traction via inflated trading volumes.

"I'm 20. I got into the crypto business when I was 18. I was studying at the university, there were some problems in my family, let's put it this way, and I needed money. I got an entry-level job at a crypto startup. The main part of my salary was in tokens, I trusted that startup, I knew absolutely nothing about the crypto industry," he said.

"CoinMarketCap at the time required the daily volume as high as $100,000 to list a token, and those exchanges gave us pennies, absolutely nothing like, $100, $200, $300 - and that was not so bad as it was right after our ICO.".

The bot helped the startup get their token listed on larger exchanges and CoinMarketCap, but Alexey soon realized he and his friend could build their own business.

One day, instead of his regular university volleyball training session, Alexey went to a crypto event in Moscow and met his first partner who helped create his company, GoBit.

"Our product now is providing the full control over the token's market: the volume, the price, the liquidity, and making money on the price movements," he said.

The clients were small token projects with an ICO. They wanted to calm their investors and look a bit better on exchanges.

"In the crypto world, if a token is not on CoinMarketCap that project doesn't exist, right? Without our service, or a service like ours, or without a real trading volume, which well known projects can command, you can't get on CoinMarketCap," he said.

"People should know the history of what has been going on. When the new rules for regulating the crypto exchanges come in place, people can learn from the shortcomings of now.I think our experience, the experience of our colleagues and clients, it can be a good example of what needs to be done to regulate this industry correctly."