China May Have Already Sold the 194,000 Bitcoin Seized From the PlusToken Scam in 2019

In a January 23 post, Ki shared on-chain data showing the confiscated assets were mixed and sent to crypto exchanges, such as Huobi

China might have already sold the 194,000 Bitcoin (BTC) seized from the infamous PlusToken scam in 2019, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju.

In a January 23 post, Ki shared on-chain data showing the confiscated assets were mixed and sent to crypto exchanges, such as Huobi, instead of being kept in the national treasury.

For those who don’t remember (or didn’t know), the PlusToken scheme was one of the, if not the largest, crypto Ponzi scams in history, defrauding investors out of roughly US$2B (AU$3.18B) worth of cryptocurrencies between 2018 and 2019.

The scheme was kickstarted by Chen Bo, who presented PlusToken as a South Korean crypto wallet and exchange platform, targeting investors in China and other Southeast Asian countries.

Chinese authorities managed to arrest over 109 individuals and seized a substantial amount of Bitcoin reserves. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) stated the assets were “transferred to the national treasury,” it did not specify if they were sold.

However, Ju’s analysis of the on-chain footprint suggests otherwise, indicating that the confiscated BTC was sold on crypto exchanges in tranches throughout 2021.

The large volumes of Bitcoin being moved from the PlusToken cold wallet address to crypto exchanges were flagged by on-chain analysts and traders throughout last year. Many speculated that the assets were being sold by the Chinese government to bolster its coffers or influence the BTC price.

However, the CCP maintained that the confiscated BTC was placed in the national treasury and not sold. Several officials also stated that crypto is not recognized as legal tender in China and that any gains from crypto trading are subject to individual income tax.

Ki’s analysis now seems to contradict the CCP's claims, suggesting that the on-chain data provides a more accurate account of the assets' fate. He urged his followers to “trust on-chain data, not the CCP.”