Coinbase-linked defendant sentenced to prison in first crypto insider trading case

The brother of a former Coinbase employee has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in a groundbreaking insider trading scheme involving cryptocurrency.

Nikhil Wahi was sentenced to prison and ordered to repay $892,500 in forfeiture by a U.S. District Court judge, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced Tuesday in a press release. Wahi, brother of former Coinbase manager Ishan Wahi, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy in September.

The scheme, which began in October 2020, involved Ishan Wahi passing along confidential information about which cryptocurrency assets were about to be listed on Coinbase’s platform to his brother, who then bought the assets before they were listed. Nikhil Wahi would then sell the assets at a profit after they were listed, prosecutors said.