“Bitcoin Rodney” confessed to creating a $1.8 billion crypto pyramid scheme — a lesson for the market
The high-profile case of a multi-billion dollar crypto fraud has taken a new turn. A 56-year-old Miami resident, known in the crypto community as "Bitcoin Rodney," has officially pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court. His name is Rodney Burton, and he was a key figure in the HyperFund scam, which defrauded investors worldwide of approximately $1.8 billion between 2020 and 2022.
According to the investigation, Burton not only participated in promoting the platform but actively engaged in money laundering. He created fictitious consulting companies through which investor transactions were processed, concealing the true nature of the capital flow. "Bitcoin Rodney's" personal gain from this activity exceeded $7.85 million. He now faces up to five years in prison, with the final sentence to be handed down on July 23 under Judge Richard Bennett.
How the HyperFund Pyramid Scheme Worked
The mechanics of HyperFund were classic for a financial pyramid scheme, but packaged in an attractive crypto wrapper. The platform promised investors who purchased "memberships" a passive income of 0.5% to 1% daily. It claimed that such fantastic payouts were backed by large-scale cryptocurrency mining. However, as the investigation revealed, no actual mining existed. Money from new participants was simply redistributed to old ones—a classic Ponzi scheme. By 2021, the platform began blocking withdrawals, and thousands of people lost access to their investments.
The Scale of the Disaster
This case is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report published in April, losses from crypto fraud in 2025 have already reached a staggering $11.4 billion. The agency received 181,565 complaints related to cryptocurrency—a 21% increase from 2024. The average reported loss is $62,604. Investment scams account for $7.2 billion of these losses across 61,559 complaints.
Expert opinion: "Bitcoin Rodney's" guilty plea is not just the end of one case. It is a clear signal to the market: regulators and law enforcement have learned to effectively unravel complex crypto schemes. Investors should remember: promises of guaranteed super-profits almost always mask fraud. Real mining and DeFi projects do not offer such returns—this is an axiom that HyperFund confirmed at a cost of $1.8 billion.