Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc, has been sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading in the United States. This is the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency, according to U.S. prosecutors

Wahi was arrested in July 2022 and charged with wire fraud and insider trading for feeding his brother and another man insider information about upcoming crypto listings. From June 2021 to April 2022, authorities say the men made over $1 million trading on Wahi’s information. The case is the second crypto-related insider trading case brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) 

The Insider Trading Scheme

Prosecutors have said Wahi shared confidential information with his brother Nikhil and their friend Sameer Ramani about which digital assets would be listed on Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The tipoff allowed the three men to make $1.5 million by trading 55 digital assets ahead of the listing announcements between June 2021 and April 2022, according to prosecutors

Ex-Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi filed to get a shorter prison sentence, less than two weeks before his sentencing hearing. He argued that he should receive a sentence similar to his brother’s, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge