CryptoQuant: China may have sold all its Bitcoins back in 2019
China hasn't had bitcoin for a long time
Chinese authorities likely sold the 194,000 bitcoins confiscated from the PlusToken Ponzi scheme in 2019, according to Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, who shared this analysis on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
He noted that since the confiscation, the fate of these bitcoins had remained unclear. However, after analyzing blockchain transactions, Ki Young Ju concluded that the Chinese government used cryptocurrency mixers and centralized exchanges, such as Huobi, to liquidate the seized assets.
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Ki Young Ju provided a detailed blockchain analysis suggesting that the confiscated bitcoins were sold as early as 2019. The method was straightforward: the assets were first funneled through crypto mixers and then moved to exchanges for sale.
"Chinese authorities have not confirmed the sale, so people are still speculating about the 194,000 BTC. However, blockchain data tells a different story—they sold everything using mixers and exchanges back in 2019. I trust on-chain data, not the Chinese Communist Party," the analyst concluded.
When China confiscated the 194,000 BTC, their market value was around $4 billion. Had they waited to sell, those assets would now be worth nearly $20 billion.
What is PlusToken?
PlusToken was one of the largest Ponzi schemes in cryptocurrency history. Founded in 2018, the platform promised investors high returns. However, like many similar schemes, PlusToken turned out to be a fraudulent project.
At its core, PlusToken operated as a classic pyramid scheme, where early investors' profits were paid out using funds from new participants. By June 2019, it became evident that PlusToken was on the verge of collapse. The platform's creators siphoned off billions of dollars in cryptocurrency, leaving investors empty-handed.
After PlusToken’s collapse, large-scale investigations ensued, leading to the arrests of key figures involved in the scheme. Despite these efforts, only a small portion of the stolen funds was recovered for the victims.
Meanwhile, analysts predict that the current crypto bull market could become the longest in history but caution against overconfidence.
