SEC secures $5.5M default judgment over NanoBit crypto scam

A federal judge in New York entered a $5.5 million default judgment against NanoBit Limited and five related defendants on June 16 over an alleged relationship-investment, or "pig-butchering," scam built on a fake crypto trading platform. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered $5,518,902 in combined disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

The SEC alleged that from September 2023 to June 2024, scheme participants posed as financial-industry professionals in WhatsApp groups, built trust with investors, and directed them to deposit funds into NanoBit. Although user dashboards displayed what appeared to be profitable trades, the platform never executed any crypto transactions. At least 18 investors lost nearly $1 million in crypto and fiat, with more than $2 million wired to bank accounts in Hong Kong.

NanoBit Limited carries the largest individual share at over $532,000 in disgorgement, roughly $82,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $1.1 million civil penalty. The three other entity defendants each owe $1.1 million in penalties, while individual defendants Jiajie Liu and Hua Zhao owe $120,000 and $55,000 respectively. All six were permanently barred from violating federal anti-fraud provisions and from participating in securities offerings or transactions, though Liu and Zhao may still trade in personal accounts. None of the defendants appeared in court, and the judge found the default willful with no meritorious defense presented.

Why it matters

The case was filed in September 2024 alongside a parallel action against another fake platform, CoinW6, which the SEC explicitly framed as among its first enforcement actions targeting relationship-investment scams built on fake crypto venues. Treating WhatsApp-group grooming and bogus dashboards as a standalone enforcement category signals that retail-facing fraud built on social engineering, rather than on-chain exploits, is now a dedicated SEC priority.

NanoBit also allegedly claimed an affiliate, NanobitUS Securities, was SEC-registered and tied to reputable financial firms, a hallmark of the impersonation playbook regulators have been warning about for two years.