Dormant Ethereum wallet moved funds from $2b PlusToken scam

Hundreds of wallets started moving around 2,800 tokens worth almost $2 billion in Ethereum linked to the 2020 PlusToken Ponzi scheme in China.

Ethereum (ETH) dipped around 2% after several wallets began transferring funds from a 789,533 Ether chest early on Wednesday, Aug. 7. According to Etherscan, the addresses were dormant for over three years and last received assets from a wallet tagged “Plus Token Ponzi 2” in April 2021.

PlusToken was a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scam dismantled by Chinese law enforcement in 2020. Authorities seized cryptocurrencies currently worth $14 billion, including 194,775 Bitcoin (BTC) and 833,083 ETH, valued at $11.2 billion and $2.11 billion, respectively.

Chinese police also confiscated tens to hundreds of millions worth of Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), EOS (EOS), Dash (DASH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Tether (USDT).

A lower district court in Yancheng, China, convicted 15 individuals over the case that reportedly impacted 2 million investors.

Will Ethereum buckle under sell pressure?

Ethereum may be experiencing its Mt. Gox moment as data showed large swathes of Ether being moved around. According to crypto.news, market maker Jump Crypto also sent $277 million in ETH to exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. 

The Chicago-based firm has also unstaked thousands of Ether from Lido Finance and may be poised to liquidate assets.

While reports of Chinese authorities selling ETH or Jump offloading the asset for stablecoins have not emerged, such an outcome could pile sell pressure on Ethereum after a widespread market selloff.

Indeed, Ether shed 25% in the last seven days and had held above $2,400 for less than 48 hours at press time. ETH’s market price was fairly unchanged, showing a 0.7% increase in 24 hours.