10-month sentence imposed for cryptocurrency insider trading

NEW YORK (AP) — The brother of a former Coinbase product manager has been sentenced to 10 months in prison in what federal prosecutors have called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency. Twenty-seven-year-old Nikhil Wahi, of Seattle, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday after pleading guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said that Nikhil Wahi began in around October 2020 to receive confidential tips from his brother, Ishan Wahi — then a product manager for Coinbase Global Inc., one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges — and used the information to sell crypto assets for a profit. In addition to the prison sentence, Nikhil Wahi was ordered to pay $892,500.