Concerns Rise Over $1.3 Billion Sell Pressure on Ethereum Amid PlusToken Fallout

There are growing concerns about Ethereum (ETH) due to its connection with the notorious PlusToken Ponzi scheme. Some of this ETH might soon be transferred to crypto exchanges. In fact, a small amount has already made its way there, likely for cashing out.

As a result, ETH prices have dipped about 4% from their recent highs. Right now, it’s trading around $2,400.

According to FreeSamourai, around 7,000 ETH out of the 542,000 ETH—worth about $1.3 billion—seized from PlusToken has been spotted on exchanges like BitGet, Binance, and OKX.

The PlusToken scheme operated like a Ponzi scheme, similar to BitConnect. It gained traction in China between 2018 and 2019, attracting around 2.6 million participants. Authorities eventually shut it down, seizing huge amounts of cryptocurrency, including over 194,000 Bitcoin (BTC) and more than 833,000 ETH.

A court document from 2020 revealed that the seized assets were sent to Zhifan Technology Beijing for liquidation. The funds were meant to reimburse victims. At that time, officials believed they had sold the BTC on exchanges, while some ETH was liquidated, leaving 542,000 ETH still in limbo.

In early August, EmberCN noticed that this ETH was moved for the first time since 2021.

On October 9, FreeSamourai reported another 15,700 ETH moving from a monitored wallet. However, it hasn’t reached exchanges yet. FreeSamourai suggests this could signal an upcoming sale of the remaining ETH.

“Given the recent effort to re-obfuscate the ETH, it’s unlikely that the active distribution of the 15,700 ETH moved yesterday is the last of the 540,000 ETH supply distribution,” FreeSamourai noted.

News of potential sell pressure from large entities often raises alarms among investors. For instance, in July, the German government liquidated $3 billion in Bitcoin, causing BTC's price to drop from $65,600 to $57,800. Recently, the US Supreme Court also allowed the sale of 69,370 BTC seized from Silk Road.

The crypto community is understandably anxious about the possible impact of $1.3 billion sell pressure on ETH.

“This is why we can’t have nice things. Potentially $1.3 billion sell pressure on ETH from PlusToken. Plus, potentially $4 billion sell pressure on BTC from the US government’s Silk Road sales. Sad,” shared a concerned crypto investor.