The recent price drop in bitcoin may have been related to a selloff following an alleged massive cryptocurrency scam that apparently swindled up to $2.9 billion from investors, according to some reports.

The scam in question, called “Plus Token,” is said to be a Ponzi scheme that primarily operated in China. Described on its website as a “new global revolution,” Plus Token fraudulently claimed that it could deliver wallet holders a return on investment between 8% and 16% per month after depositing a minimum of $500 in crypto assets.

According to CoinTelegraph, the company involved several Chinese nationals and even allegedly “Chinese police.” The company said in a post last on July 31 in simplified Chinese – simplified is notable because Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong citizens use traditional Chinese characters — claimed that something had gone wrong and it was trying to rectify the situation.

Putting the amount stolen at $3.5 billion, not $2.9 billion — the figure varies according to different reports — Cryptoslate reported that Plus Token may be liquidating its holdings and hence driving bitcoin’s price down, referencing venture capitalist Dovey Wan.

If everybody can help RT this and @ the onchain analysis expert you know please do.

This critical incident has been overlooked bu the western community and will need all hands on deck to chase the scammed fund and freeze it before it’s too late @cz_binance @jespow @APompliano https://t.co/toH9we2QW0

— Dovey Wan 🗝 🦖 (@DoveyWan) August 14, 2019

The amount the alleged scam company is liquidating is also reported by some to be 200,000 bitcoin, worth $2.07 billion at the time of writing.

Whatever the alleged stolen figure, the amount is large and that amount of bitcoin being sold into traditional currency has to have some effect.

Ethereum World News, while not denying the selloff, claimed Plus Token didn’t affect the price of bitcoin, however. It referenced Sid Shekhar from TokenAnalyst as saying that “he doesn’t believe that any of the outgoing transactions from Plus Token’s known addresses are arriving in exchange-owned wallets.”

After sliding below $10,000 late last week, bitcoin recovered slightly over the weekend. As of 11:25 p.m. EDT, bitcoin was trading at $10,381.14, up 2.6% over the last 24 hours and up from a recent low of $9,833.59 Aug. 15.

Photo: Plus Token