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Rodney Burton, the self-styled crypto influencer who went by “Bitcoin Rodney,” pleaded guilty on June 15, 2026, to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charge stems from his role promoting HyperFund, a platform that allegedly siphoned approximately $1.89 billion from investors through promises of passive returns generated by crypto mining operations that never existed.
Burton entered his plea in US District Court in Maryland. His sentencing is scheduled for July 23, 2026.
Inside the HyperFund scheme
HyperFund, which also operated under the names HyperVerse, HyperTech, and HyperCapital, promised investors daily passive returns of 0.5% to 1%. These returns were supposedly backed by large-scale cryptocurrency mining operations that didn’t exist.
The scheme ran from June 2020 through late 2022, fueled by multi-level marketing tactics that incentivized existing investors to recruit new ones. It stopped working in July 2021, when HyperFund began blocking investor withdrawals.
Burton wasn’t the architect. That distinction belongs to Sam Lee, identified as HyperFund’s co-founder, who remains at large. Burton served as a key promoter, leveraging his “Bitcoin Rodney” persona to drive recruitment and investment into the platform. Another promoter, Brenda Chunga, previously pleaded guilty for her role in the operation.
The charges and the defense
Burton’s guilty plea covers a fraction of what prosecutors had lined up against him. In December 2025, his charges were expanded significantly to include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and seven counts of money laundering.
Burton has claimed he was deceived by Lee and acted in good faith. The indictment tells a different story. Prosecutors allege he used proceeds from the scheme to purchase luxury condominiums, cars, and a yacht.
What this means for crypto investors
The HyperFund case is one of the largest crypto fraud prosecutions in US history by dollar amount. At $1.89 billion in alleged losses, it dwarfs many of the Ponzi schemes that grabbed headlines during the 2021 bull market. For context, the BitConnect fraud involved roughly $2.4 billion.
The prosecution’s trajectory here is instructive. Charges were initially filed, then expanded months later to include wire fraud and money laundering. Burton’s case establishes that promoting a fraudulent crypto scheme carries real criminal liability, even if you can argue you were just the marketing guy.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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