4 entries tagged “china”.
Founder of PlusToken, one of the largest crypto Ponzi schemes ever — a ~$2.25B+ pyramid (2018–2019) that drew 2M+ members with a fake 'arbitrage' return. A Chinese court convicted him and 13 others in 2020, with sentences up to 11 years.
The cross-chain bridge Multichain saw about $130M moved out of its contracts in July 2023 in unexplained 'abnormal' transfers. The team said CEO 'Zhaojun' had been detained by Chinese police in May 2023, taking the protocol's keys with him; Multichain ceased operations.
A China-based MLM 'wallet/trading' Ponzi (2018–2019) that falsely claimed trading bots generated profits. A Chinese court found it took ~7.7 billion yuan (~$1.1B) from 715,000+ investors; operators were convicted in 2020. Closely tied to the larger PlusToken scheme.
A wallet-based Ponzi scheme that operated mainly in China and South Korea (2018–2019), promising high returns. Estimates of funds taken range from about $2 billion to over $4 billion; Chinese courts convicted ringleaders in 2020.