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.
Linked scams & cases
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
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Dropil (DROP)TokensAn ICO for the DROP token built around a fake 'Dex' trading bot. The SEC said it raised ~$1.9M while claiming $54M from 34,000 investors, and that the founders falsified evidence during the probe. Founders Jeremy McAlpine and Zachary Matar pleaded guilty to securities fraud (36 and 30 months).
- CluCoin (CLU)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.