Randall Crater
Founder of My Big Coin, a virtual currency he falsely marketed as gold-backed and partnered with MasterCard. A jury convicted him in 2022 of wire fraud and related counts; he was sentenced in 2023 to 100 months in prison and ~$7.6M in restitution and forfeiture.
Also known as: Randall Crater
Bio
Randall Crater launched My Big Coin (MBC) in 2013 and marketed it to investors between 2014 and 2017, falsely claiming the coin was a fully functioning, gold-backed cryptocurrency with a MasterCard partnership and that it was readily tradable on the My Big Coin Exchange. He obtained more than $7.5 million from customers, which prosecutors say he misappropriated. [1][2]
Legal outcome
On July 21, 2022, a federal jury convicted Crater of four counts of wire fraud, three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. On January 31, 2023, he was sentenced to 100 months in prison and ordered to pay roughly $7.6 million in restitution and forfeiture; the First Circuit later affirmed. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
- United States v. Randall Crater — First Circuit opinion — U.S. Court of Appeals (1st Cir.)
- Federal Court Orders Over $25 Million for Digital Asset Fraud (My Big Coin) — U.S. CFTC
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
Evolved Apes (NFT)ProjectsAn NFT collection launched on OpenSea in September 2021 that promised a fighting game. About a week later its anonymous developer 'Evil Ape' vanished with 798 ETH (~$2.7M). In June 2024 U.S. prosecutors charged three U.K. nationals over the scheme.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.