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It’s no secret that XRP has been struggling to garner any momentum over the past few years, with its downtrend not being able to reverse despite many of its peers posting intense rallies throughout 2019 and 2020.
Its weakness may be far from being over, as the on-chain data shows that one notorious scam ring currently holds 485 million XRP.
The PlusToken Ponzi Scheme – which garnered global attention throughout 2019 due to their astonishing crypto holdings – is now starting to move Bitcoin and other crypto tokens between wallets.
This suggests they are mixing the crypto before offloading it on the open markets, potentially signaling a massive selloff is imminent.
It is possible that this imminent selloff will prove to be particularly impactful to XRP, as on-chain data shows that the nefarious actors running the ploy hold a total of 485 million tokens.
If dumped onto the market, this could catalyze a massive selloff that sends the token’s value reeling lower.
The Resurgence of PlusToken: The Defunct Ponzi Scheme is Back
After a multi-month hiatus from making any movements, the ring leaders of the PlusToken scheme are now beginning to move their crypto holdings again.
According to recent data, the group has moved a total of nearly $500 million worth of crypto over the past few days – as reported by NewsBTC earlier today.
It does appear that this resurgence in activity is likely due from the tempered signs of strength seen in the markets.
Better prices mean more money and more liquidity, which may explain why they had been dormant over the past few months while the market recovered.
Spencer Noon, the head of DTC Capital, broke down the latest batch of transactions from PlusToken, explaining that they moved a total of 22k BTC, 789k ETH, 26m EOS, and 20m XRP.
“This week the following PlusToken funds have been on the move to exchanges and new addresses for mixing: – 22k BTC ($203m USD) – 789k ETH ($183m) – 26m EOS ($68m) – 20m XRP ($4m). The big question: can the crypto markets absorb this volume or are we headed lower?”
Why XRP Could be Gravely Impacted by PlusToken
Although at the moment the scammers only appear to be gearing up to sell $4 million worth of XRP, this may be due to its present lack of liquidity and its stagnant price action.
That being said, data shows that the group holds a total of 485 million XRP, and these tokens may be offloaded the second the cryptocurrency’s price begins gaining some momentum.
Thomas Silkjær, the founder of xrplorer, spoke about this in a recent post, saying:
“Notes: – If the 485,000,000 XRP from PlusToken…is in fact still in the hands of bad actors, they are being moved to exchanges in an increasing rate. – This week alone, close to 100,000,000 has been sent to [HBTC].”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
