Mango Market "hacker" convicted

The U.S. federal court has handed down a verdict in the trial of Solana trading center Mango Markets. Avraham Eisenberg faces 20 years in prison.

Crypto trader Avraham Eisenberg was charged last Thursday in the U.S. federal court convicted of manipulating the decentralized Solana trading platform Mango Markets in October 2022. This is stated in a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mango Markets is an op Solana based decentralized exchange (DEX). In October 2022, Eisenberg used the lending protocol to "borrow" cryptocurrencies totaling about US$110 million.

After a vote in which he then used the captured funds as a token, Eisenberg asked not to be prosecuted.

Eisenberg's defense team argued that his transactions on Mango Markets were "successful and legal" because he followed the rules of the decentralized protocol.

The smart contracts of the decentralized protocol eventually enabled the lending process.

The evidence presented at trial, however, included Eisenberg's Internet searches for terms such as "restriction scheme," "market manipulation" and "fraud elements."

According to the prosecution, this shows that Eisenberg was aware of his crimes.

Eisenberg now faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The sentence is still pending.