Rodney Burton, widely known online as ‘Bitcoin Rodney,’ pleaded guilty on June 15, 2026, to conspiracy charges related to HyperFund, a $1.8 billion crypto fraud scheme. The Miami-based promoter’s plea in the US District Court for the District of Maryland exposes him to a maximum of five years in federal prison. Sentencing for Burton is scheduled for July 23, 2026, before US District Judge Richard D. Bennett.
HyperFund, later rebranded as HyperVerse, presented itself as a legitimate cryptocurrency investment platform starting around mid-2020. It offered tiered memberships that promised daily returns of 0.5% to 1%, claiming these rates would double or triple a member’s principal within months. The platform asserted these returns were generated by cryptocurrency mining revenues.
Prosecutors stated that the promised mining operations never existed. Instead, HyperFund operated as a classic Ponzi scheme, where funds from new investors were used to pay earlier participants. The Department of Justice described HyperFund as “a global wire-fraud scheme that obtained $1.8Bn from victim-investors worldwide.”
HyperFund began restricting investor withdrawals in 2021 before its eventual collapse. This left investors with significant losses, placing the case among the largest crypto fraud prosecutions in US courts. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated a parallel civil enforcement action in 2024, alleging the platform sold unregistered securities and characterizing it as a $1.7 billion crypto pyramid scheme.
Burton’s role involved promoting HyperFund within the United States. He was accused of providing unlicensed money-transmitting services to facilitate the scheme from June 2020 to January 2022. His entities reportedly rerouted investor funds. A superseding indictment in December 2025 charged him with 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Sam Lee, a co-founder of HyperFund, is considered the architect of the scheme. Lee is currently outside US custody, facing charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud filed in January 2024. Burton’s plea resolves his specific legal challenges related to his involvement in the fraudulent operation.
The broader implications of the HyperFund case continue to unfold, with the resolution of Burton’s charges marking a step in the legal process. The status of other individuals involved, particularly co-founder Sam Lee, remains a key area of focus for authorities. The crypto market saw Bitcoin fall 1.8% overnight, trading at $64,000, with the total crypto market cap down 1.6% in the past 24 hours, dropping below $2.3 trillion.
Future proceedings will determine the full extent of Burton’s sentence and potentially shed more light on the recovery efforts for victims. The case highlights ongoing regulatory scrutiny within the cryptocurrency sector and the challenges of prosecuting global fraud schemes.