The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled for the first time that the crypto token HYDRO is a security

The US Department of Justice has announced that HYDRO founder Shane Hampton and financial engineering director Michael Kane have been found guilty of manipulating the price of the HYDRO token for Hydrogen Technology. The law enforcement agency also stated that the sale of HYDRO constituted an unregistered investment contract, and the two were sentenced to two years and eleven months and three years and nine months in prison, respectively.

Investigations revealed that the two hired a third-party company, Moonwalkers Trading Limited in South Africa, to use automated robots to place false trades worth $7 million and false orders worth over $300 million in the HYDRO market.

Nicole Argentieri, head of the criminal division of the US Department of Justice, said: "Shane Hampton, Michael Kane and their accomplices used trading robots to manipulate the cryptocurrency prices of their company, deceiving investors. This is the first time a federal jury has found that cryptocurrency is a security and that manipulating cryptocurrency prices is securities fraud."