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Police Arrest 27 Alleged Masterminds Behind $5.7B Plus Token Crypto Scam
Chinese police have arrested 27 leaders and 82 others suspected of operating the Ponzi scheme.
By Wolfie Zhao
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:38 a.m. Published Jul 30, 2020, 10:41 a.m.
Chinese police have arrested all 27 primary suspects thought to be responsible for running the massive Plus Token Ponzi scheme.
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- Led by the Ministry of Public Security, China's top police force agency, investigators also arrested another 82 core members of the scheme, according to a report from Chinese financial news outlet CLS on Thursday.
- The pyramid scheme is said to have grown to over 3,000 layers since last year and fleeced over 2 million people by using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, as a funding channel.
- The total amount of crypto assets swindled from investors is approximately worth a whopping 40 billion yuan, or $5.7 billion, the report said.
- The case marks the first time Chinese police have cracked down on a major international Ponzi scheme that used bitcoin as an exchange method.
- Law enforcement started investigating last year and had arrested six members alleged to be connected to the scheme.
- However, the 109 leaders and core members newly arrested had fled the country at the time. It's not clear in the report where they were apprehended.
- The six arrested in 2019 were extradited to China from Vanuatu, where Plus Token was alleged to have operations.
Also read: FBI Report on Laundering by Private Funds Cites OneCoin Fraud in All but Name
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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Key U.S. Senator on Crypto Bill, Lummis, Negotiating Dicey Points With White House
The Republican lawmaker who is among the core negotiators on the U.S. market structure bill said the White House has rejected some ethics language.
What to know:
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said she is negotiating with the White House on behalf of Senate Democrats trying to insert ethics provisions into Congress' market structure legislation.
- Lawmakers should reveal a new draft market structure bill by the end of the week and hold a markup hearing next week, she said.
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