Sergei Potapenko
Estonian co-founder of HashFlare, a cloud-mining service the DOJ called a $577M Ponzi scheme. He pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy in 2025 and was sentenced to time served (16 months), forfeiting hundreds of millions for victims.
Also known as: Sergei Potapenko
Bio
Sergei Potapenko co-founded the cloud-mining service HashFlare with Ivan Turõgin. Between 2015 and 2019 HashFlare sold mining contracts totaling more than $577 million but, the DOJ said, lacked the computing capacity to perform most of the mining it claimed; its dashboard showed falsified profits while the founders spent proceeds on real estate and luxury vehicles. [1][2]
Legal outcome
Potapenko was arrested in 2022 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in February 2025. In August 2025 he was sentenced to 16 months (time served) plus supervised release, a $25,000 fine, and community service, having agreed with Turõgin to forfeit assets worth hundreds of millions for victim compensation. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
- Two Estonian Nationals Plead Guilty in $577M Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme — U.S. DOJ
- Estonian nationals sentenced in WA for $577M Ponzi scheme — The Spokesman-Review
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.
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