PlusToken Operators Move $67 Million in EOS Tokens

The PlusToken scam is one of the most infamous in the recent history of the crypto space. However, it would appear that the perpetrators are still conducting transfers to this day. Yesterday, popular crypto tracking platform Whale Alert spotted a transfer from a wallet associated with the Ponzi scheme. The transfer included 26,316,339 EOS tokens, all worth about $67 million.

Preserving Their Wealth

PlusToken was one of the largest scams in the history of the crypto space. The company launched in 2018 under the guise of a wallet service and an investment platform. Customers were attracted to the prospect of juicy monthly returns, and the company was able to achieve up to $3 billion in assets under management.

The company’s true nature eventually got revealed, and workers faced international scrutiny. Last July, law enforcement agents apprehended six Chinese citizens in Vanuatu, a country in the Pacific Islands. The men were suspected of being affiliated with the company. PlusToken immediately denied connections with them, regarding them as mere customers.

At the end of the day, sources claimed that PlusToken stole 180,000 BTC, 6.4 million ETH, 53 OMG, and 110,000 USDT tokens from its investors. The value of all holdings at the time equated to about $2.9 billion.

Even with the company’s reputation in shambles, PlusToken continued to operate. Members of the broader crypto community only started to raise concerns after a planned liquidation caused a Bitcoin price drop.

Last year, market research firm Chainalysis reported that it had tracked about 45,000 BTC (worth about $302 million at the time) and 80,000 ETH (another $102 million) sent from the company’s operational wallets to individual addresses. Chainalysis hypothesized that those wallets belonged to the company’s operators.

The firm also noted that PlusToken was waiting to transfer another 20,000 BTC ($130 million at the time).

“Given this analysis and the effects we’ve observed so far, liquidations of large amounts of illicitly obtained funds are likely to drive down the price of cryptocurrencies,” it said.

Another Ponzi Scheme Makes Its Name

With PlusToken’s propensity for moving money around, there’s little evidence to argue that this is just another incident in the long line. For now, the value of EOS hasn’t taken any significant hits due to the transfer. However, sustained movement could cause a considerable drop.

While PlusToken has been outed, it would appear that a new scam is shaping up to take its place as well. In April, industry news site Decrypt noted that a new Ponzi scheme had sprung up in China – the same country where PlusToken made its name. The report explained that the new scam was called the Antimatter Kingdom – or AK. While it had only originated earlier that month, Decrypt noted that it had already milked investors off 18,000 BTC – $12 million.

Antimatter Kingdom’s website claims that it runs on Capital Cell Fission Blockchain (CKC). It also includes essentially jargon claims like competing with the “cruel cosmic” entropy law and provides an orderly development of commercial civilization.

As expected, AK promises investors some outlandish returns for investing their Bitcoin. Per the website, investors would be joining the company in “the ecological exploration of a trillion-dollar value.”