No Break for Ethereum as ETH Tied to $4B PlusToken Ponzi Moves

• Ethereum seized from one of the largest crypto ponzi schemes ever is on the move.
• Analysts have offered varying insights on how big a deal the sudden movements are.
• The sudden asset movements have elicited mixed reactions.

The past few days have been rough for the crypto market, but Ethereum , in particular, can not seem to catch a break. Amid a market crash sparked by macroeconomic headwinds, the asset has also faced significant selling pressure from Jump Crypto , the U.S. government , and now potentially China.

PlusToken ETH Wallets On the Move

Ethereum is again the focus of potential selling pressure. On Wednesday, August 7, several analysts have taken to X to disclose that Ethereum wallets tied to the PlusToken ponzi that ran between 2018 and 2019 in China and led to the seizure of over $4 billion in crypto in 2020 moved for the first time in over three years.

For context, Chinese authorities had seized 833,083 ETH worth over $2 billion at current rates during the crackdown. At the time of writing, the jury is out on how much of the seized crypto assets remain and exactly how much ETH has been moved over the past 24 hours. 

Prominent crypto smart money tracker Lookonchain, who was the first to report the development, suggested that “hundreds of wallets” tied to the Ponzi scheme were moving “large amounts of $ETH, possibly 789,533 $ETH ($2B).” Lookonchain, however, deleted their X post moments later.

Following Lookonchain, crypto analyst “EmberCN” took to X to assert that based on their analysis, most of the supposed 789,533 ETH had already been liquidated between June and September 2021. At the same time, they also contended that only 12 wallets had received ETH connected to the TokenPlus scam in the past 30 hours, putting the total at 25,757 ETH worth only about $63 million.

EmberCN’s analysis has, however, been contradicted by the crypto intelligence platform Arkham. According to Arkham, nearly $465 million worth of ETH has been moved around PlusToken-associated wallets in the past 12 hours.

With the specifics unclear, the development has sparked mixed reactions from community members.

FUD or Another Reason To Be Concerned?

Amid the conflicting analysis, most crypto community members have either attempted to dismiss concerns over the recent TokenPlus ETH moves as FUD or expressed exasperation at the never-ending selling pressure.

Surmising the views of the latter, one user commented :

"I swear this never f*king ends"

Amid the confusion, ETH is trading around the $2,350 price point at the time of writing, representing an over 5% decline over the past 24 hours.

On the Flipside 

• It is still unclear how much PlusToken-linked ETH is on the move and whether they will end up on exchanges.
• Ethereum’s price slide appears to be part of a broader market correction instead of an isolated sell-off.

Why This Matters 

Ethereum was the worst-hit large-cap crypto asset in the recent weekend market crash due to selling from Jump Crypto. The news of potential selling pressure on the asset from China adds to the worrying outlook for the asset in the short term.

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