PlusToken, the Chinese Ponzi scheme that took away around $3.5 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), is capable of significantly affecting the ETH ecosystem.
Recent research by Chainalysis, part of a larger report on crypto crime, shows PlusToken took in and redistributed as much as 6.4 million ETH, while in the end keeping around 790,000 ETH. The scheme lasted for months and even went through the year’s significant bull rally. Other rough estimates see the scheme taking as much as 10 million ETH.
Although the estimate for PlusToken is incomplete, ranging from $2.9 billion to close to $4 billion, Chainalysis discovered about $2 billion of value moving through known wallets and assets.
“We tracked a total of 180,000 BTC, 6,400,000 ETH, 111,000 USDT, and 53 OMG (OmiseGo) that went from scam victims to PlusToken wallets, equating to roughly $2 billion. Either figure would make PlusToken one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever,” the report stated.
The outflows from the early days of the scheme remain uncertain, as it is unknown if they were sent to the core team wallets, or to associates. But even after the ending of the Ponzi scheme, Chainalysis estimated PlusToken only managed to liquidate around 10,000 ETH, while preserving 790,000 ETH.
The funds, however, may be on the move, as a wallet identified to be linked to PlusToken recently made a significant transaction.
https://twitter.com/whale_alert/status/1207464036142596096
The wallet was identified based on Chinese social media information, and may be a transfer initiated by the scheme’s associates. Although the core team was taken in custody by authorities, the PlusToken associates at various levels may still have access to some of the funds.
In this regard, PlusToken is similar to BitConnect, which left multiple high-tier actors at large, able to liquidate funds they collected.
Now, PlusToken looks capable of using the ETH to either sway the market, by at least dumping the price. The other option is participation in various DeFi schemes, where the ETH can be stored and also laundered.
