The two men behind a $7 million insider trading scheme will spend Christmas behind bars after having their bail revoked before sentencing in February.

The director of public prosecutions, Robert Bromwich, is seeking a long sentence for former NAB banker Lukas Kamay to reflect the "calculated' nature of his offences.

He told the court on Thursday that Kamay's attempts to hide money he made through illegal trades by buying a $2.3 million apartment from the television show The Block was overt attempt to cloak his crimes in "success".

"The success can be visible but the source of your success is hidden," he said.

Kamay, 26, and his co-offender, former Australian Bureau of Statistics employee Christopher Hill, 25, appeared at the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday.

The two men face more than 10 years' jail for their roles in the scheme, which involved Hill passing on unreleased economic data from the ABS headquarters in Canberra to Kamay in Melbourne, who used the information to make foreign exchange trades on his phone.

Kamay has blamed a 'Wolf of Wall Street' culture at Australia's big investment banks for driving him to commit what prosecutors have called the country's worst ever insider trading scheme.

He also blamed Hill for approaching him with the idea, despite promising Hill just $20,000 to pass on the information while Kamay pocketed $7 million in secret accounts, which he used to buy the luxury apartment.

Mr Bromwich has called for jail sentences that would deter other would-be offenders from committing the same crimes.

He said the sentence needed to be particularly strong for Kamay, whose offending was "calculated" and "bereft of any redeeming features".

He described Hill as an "active" participant in the scheme, happy to "sell out" his workplace and responsible for "carefully thought-out criminal activity".

He said his breaches of public office were in the "worst category".

Kamay had originally planned to fight the money laundering charges, but changed his plea to guilty in November.

The court agreed on Thursday that despite Kamay's testimony, the NAB banker was the one that came up with the "bright idea" for the scheme.

Kamay has pleaded guilty to insider trading, identity theft and money laundering charges. Insider trading carries a maximum 10 year prison sentence, while money laundering carries a maximum of 20 years.

Hill has pleaded guilty to insider trading, identity theft, and breach of public office, the latter of which carries a maximum of five years in jail.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said on Wednesday that Kamay's testimony, in which he made an emotional apology but also blamed Hill and the trading culture in which he worked in for his crimes, was not a "dazzling display" by the former trader.

"He was still trying to drag [Hill] in and blame him for it. He was far less than owning up to his full responsibility," she said.

Kamay told the court on Wednesday that throughout his career and most recently at NAB, he had been "rewarded for financial performance".

"The money really consumed me, the culture really consumed me," he said.

Counsel for Kamay, defence barrister Peter Morrissey, SC, said there was a culture of "winning" at NAB and Goldman Sachs and JBWere, where Kamay also worked, reminiscent of Hollywood movies "where morality is secondary to success".

Mr Bromwich said although the crimes were "a tragedy of two men with bright futures", that that could only have a limited impact on a sentence.

"Moral culpability is quite high," he said.

Justice Hollingworth has reserved her sentencing until February.