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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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CFTC Launches Digital Assets Pilot Allowing Bitcoin, Ether and USDC as Collateral
Acting Chair Caroline Pham has unveiled a first-of-its-kind U.S. program to permit tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, citing "clear guardrails" for firms.
What to know:
- The CFTC has launched a pilot program allowing BTC, ETH and USDC to be used as collateral in U.S. derivatives markets.
- The program is aimed at approved futures commission merchants and includes strict custody, reporting and oversight requirements.
- The agency also issued updated guidance for tokenized assets and withdrew outdated restrictions following the GENIUS Act.
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