'Bitcoin Rodney' pleads guilty in $1.8 billion crypto fraud case

A Miami crypto promoter known as Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney” Burton pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the $1.8 billion HyperFund fraud scheme that operated between 2020 and 2022.

Burton admitted under a plea agreement that he conspired to provide unlicensed money-transmitting services while promoting HyperFund and routed investor funds through entities that were presented as consulting firms but functioned as payment conduits. He received at least $7,851,711 in proceeds linked to the operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, HyperFund's promotional materials claimed investors who purchased "memberships" would receive between 0.5% and 1% daily in passive rewards until the company either doubled or tripled their initial investment.

The platform also cited revenue from large-scale crypto mining operations to justify the payouts, despite prosecutors saying no such operations existed. Withdrawals were later blocked beginning in 2021 as the scheme progressed.

Burton now faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge, with sentencing scheduled for July 23 before U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett.

Crypto-related fraud losses reached $11.4 billion in 2025, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report released in April. 

The bureau received 181,565 crypto-related complaints, a 21% increase from 2024, with an average reported loss of $62,604. Investment scams accounted for $7.2 billion of those losses across 61,559 complaints.