The Chinese government is a crypto whale, according to Ki Young Ju, co-founder of CryptoQuant, despite its hostile stance toward the sector.
Young Ju claims that China has seized $6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from the PlusToken scam in 2019, including 194,000 Bitcoin ($3.9 billion), 833,000 Ethereum ($1.2 billion), and many other undisclosed digital assets.
The PlusToken Scam 2018
The PlusToken scam was a Ponzi scheme that started in 2018 and mostly attracted investors from China and South Korea. According to reports, the scheme defrauded investors of more than $2 billion in digital assets in 2019.
The operation’s leaders were detained and sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Chinese government.
According to a CryptoQuant investigation, the scammers used mixers to cash out over 90,000 BTC to a variety of addresses. The co-founder added that the fraudulent gamers were still there because they had sent 50 BTC to the same mixer, indicating that they were still active.
Other Countries With Massive Crypto Holdings
China is not the only nation that seizes cryptocurrency. The 2016 Bitfinex breach led to the US Department of Justice seizing $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin earlier this year. Before that, when it shut down the Silk Road, the government confiscated 70,000 BTC from Ross Ulbricht.
But, in contrast to China, the United States frequently auctions off its seized cryptocurrency holdings. The value of the US government’s Bitcoin holdings as of February 2022 is $4.08 billion. Hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency assets have also been seized in the U.K., most of which are linked to various offences.
BTC is also held in large quantities by Ukraine and El Salvador. Donations made to the former to aid the nation in its conflict with Russia were primarily how it earned its cryptocurrency. El Salvador, on the other hand, is the first nation to declare the leading digital asset legal tender.
North Korea is another famous nation that has crypto assets. According to reports, hackers supported by North Korea have stolen up to $2 billion in cryptocurrency over the last ten years. The majority of the nation’s cryptocurrency assets are purportedly used for its defense initiatives.
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