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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"2e597759-8c67-4cc6-b00e-eb5735feb462","kind":"publish","page_slug":"wotoken","published_at":"2026-05-31T20:20:48.238Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"WoToken","sections":[{"content":"WoToken presented itself to investors as a digital currency trading platform powered by an algorithmic trading bot called the 'Apollo' robot, which it claimed could exploit arbitrage opportunities across global cryptocurrency exchanges to generate consistent daily returns. Investors were promised static returns ranging from approximately 0.25% to 0.65% per day depending on investment tier, plus dynamic referral commissions for recruiting new participants. In reality, no such trading algorithm existed; the platform functioned as a classic Ponzi scheme in which funds from new investors were redistributed to earlier participants. WoToken required a minimum investment of approximately $1,000 in its native WOR tokens to participate in the income opportunity. The scheme operated a multi-level marketing structure with an unusually deep hierarchy of 501 referral levels.","heading":"Scheme Overview","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"The Block: China sentences masterminds of $1 billion crypto Ponzi scheme to prison","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/82783/china-crypto-ponzi-prison-wotoken-billions"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: PlusToken 2.0? New Chinese Ponzi scheme nets $1B in digital currencies","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/plustoken-2-0-new-chinese-ponzi-scheme-nets-1b-in-digital-currencies/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"BehindMLM: WoToken Review — WOR token Appollo bot Ponzi scheme","type":"research","url":"https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/wotoken-review-wor-token-appollo-bot-ponzi-scheme/"}]},{"content":"As of October 8, 2019, when WoToken's operation was effectively halted, the scheme had accumulated 715,249 registered users across China. The total cryptocurrency holdings absorbed by the scheme comprised approximately 46,050 BTC, 2,039,000 ETH, 292,590 LTC, 56,900 BCH, 6,841,797 EOS, and 286 million USDT, collectively valued at approximately 7.7 billion yuan (roughly $1.1–$1.15 billion USD) at the time of accrual. Chinese law enforcement ultimately seized approximately 425.69 million yuan (approximately $60–64 million USD) in illegal proceeds, which were forfeited to the state treasury. The gap between total investor deposits and seized assets suggests the vast majority of funds were disbursed to earlier participants or otherwise dissipated through the scheme's operations.","heading":"Scale and Investor Losses","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Bitcoin.com News: $1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi — Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/billion-crypto-ponzi-wotoken-prison-china/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockcast.cc: 7.7 Billion Involved — WoToken Wallet Verdict in the Second Instance","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockcast.cc/7-7-billion-involved-wotoken-wallet-verdict-in-the-second-instance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: Operators of $1B Ponzi scheme WoToken sentenced to 9 years in prison","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/operators-of-1b-ponzi-scheme-wotoken-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison/"}]},{"content":"Six defendants were put on trial beginning May 14, 2020, in the People's Court of Binhai County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. The primary operators were: Gao Yudong, who served as founder and technical lead and had a prior criminal record including a 10-year prison term served between 2009 and 2014 for illegal business operations; Li Qibing, a promoter; Wang Xiaoying, a promoter; and Tian Yongbo (also referred to as Tian Bo), who assisted Gao Yudong with digital currency storage and management. Two additional defendants, Li Guomin and Tang Xiaohua, were charged with related offenses of concealing criminal proceeds and harboring criminals, respectively. All six defendants are reported to have pleaded guilty. The first-instance court issued initial sentences, which were appealed. The Intermediate People's Court of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, denied the appeals and issued a second-instance ruling on October 27, 2020, upholding the original judgments. Final sentences handed down were: Gao Yudong — 8 years 6 months imprisonment plus a 2 million yuan fine; Li Qibing — 7 years imprisonment plus a 1.5 million yuan fine; Wang Xiaoying — 7 years imprisonment plus a 1.5 million yuan fine; Tian Yongbo — 2 years 6 months imprisonment plus a 1 million yuan fine; Li Guomin — 3 years suspended (5-year probation) plus a 100,000 yuan fine; Tang Xiaohua — 6 months imprisonment with 1-year probation.","heading":"Operators and Criminal Convictions","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Bitcoin.com News: $1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi — Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/billion-crypto-ponzi-wotoken-prison-china/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockcast.cc: 7.7 Billion Involved — WoToken Wallet Verdict in the Second Instance","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockcast.cc/7-7-billion-involved-wotoken-wallet-verdict-in-the-second-instance/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"BehindMLM: WoToken Ponzi co-founders sentenced to prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://behindmlm.com/companies/wotoken-ponzi-co-founders-sentenced-to-prison-in-china/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CryptoPotato: The New PlusToken — Chinese Scam WOTOKEN Stole Over $1 Billion","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptopotato.com/the-new-plustoken-chinese-scam-wotoken-stole-over-1-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/"}]},{"content":"Multiple sources, including commentary from Dovey Wan of Primitive Ventures and court documentation cited in reporting, indicate that at least one core WoToken operator had prior involvement with the PlusToken scheme — a separate Chinese cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of an estimated $2–6 billion (figures vary by source and methodology) before Chinese authorities dismantled it in July 2019. The Quadriga Initiative's research notes that 27 members identified as masterminds of the PlusToken network subsequently participated in WoToken operations. Because WoToken launched shortly after PlusToken and used a structurally nearly identical scheme — fake trading algorithm, MLM referral tiers, promise of passive returns — it was widely described in media and industry analysis as 'PlusToken 2.0.' The precise identities of all individuals who participated in both schemes have not been comprehensively established in English-language primary sources. The overlap claim is rated medium confidence, sourced from Tier 2 crypto media reporting and one industry analyst statement.","heading":"Connection to PlusToken","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinTelegraph: PlusToken Scammer Implicated in China's Second Ten-Figure Crypto Ponzi","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/plustoken-scammer-implicated-in-chinas-second-ten-figure-crypto-ponzi"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CryptoPotato: The New PlusToken — Chinese Scam WOTOKEN","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptopotato.com/the-new-plustoken-chinese-scam-wotoken-stole-over-1-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Quadriga Initiative: WoToken Wallet Service Fraud Profile","type":"research","url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinIdol: $1.1bn Cryptocurrency Scam Could Be Linked to Plus Token Pyramid Scheme","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinidol.com/cryptocurrency-scam-scheme/"}]},{"content":"WoToken's income model had two components. The 'static' component consisted of daily percentage returns on deposited cryptocurrency, nominally generated by the fictitious Apollo trading bot. Returns were tiered: investors depositing the equivalent of $1,000 were promised 0.25%–0.5% daily (up to 182.5% annually), while those investing $5,000 or more were promised 0.3%–0.65% daily (up to approximately 237% annually). The 'dynamic' component consisted of referral commissions paid across multiple levels of a participant's recruitment downline, with commission rates of 5%–20% across up to four qualifying levels beyond level 15 of the downline network. The WOR token was issued by the WoToken operators at negligible production cost and sold to investors at an internally set price. Investors were falsely told they controlled their private keys while an AI managed trading on their behalf. The 501-level referral hierarchy — unusually deep even among MLM structures — enabled rapid expansion across China. By the time operations ceased in October 2019, no evidence existed of any algorithmic trading activity; all investor payments were funded by new participant deposits.","heading":"MLM and Token Mechanics","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"BehindMLM: WoToken Review — WOR token Appollo bot Ponzi scheme","type":"research","url":"https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/wotoken-review-wor-token-appollo-bot-ponzi-scheme/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Quadriga Initiative: WoToken Wallet Service Fraud Profile","type":"research","url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: PlusToken 2.0? New Chinese Ponzi scheme nets $1B in digital currencies","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/plustoken-2-0-new-chinese-ponzi-scheme-nets-1b-in-digital-currencies/"}]},{"content":"WoToken's founders conceived the scheme in July 2018 and launched operations shortly thereafter. The platform operated continuously until approximately October 2019. On April 4–5, 2020, the platform blocked user withdrawals, citing alleged technical issues, which was widely interpreted as the collapse of the Ponzi structure. Chinese authorities subsequently arrested the operators. The trial in the People's Court of Binhai County commenced on May 14, 2020; due to the case's complexity, proceedings were suspended after approximately six hours and continued in subsequent sessions. A first-instance judgment was issued in mid-2020. Defendants appealed, but the Intermediate People's Court of Yancheng denied all appeals and issued the second-instance (final) ruling on October 27, 2020. The WoToken website's hosting expired in September 2020.","heading":"Operational Timeline and Shutdown","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Quadriga Initiative: WoToken Wallet Service Fraud Profile","type":"research","url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Bitcoin.com News: $1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi — Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/billion-crypto-ponzi-wotoken-prison-china/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ZyCrypto: Chinese Police Uncover PlusToken-like Scam Scheme That Stole 46,000 Bitcoin","type":"news_article","url":"https://zycrypto.com/chinese-police-uncover-plustoken-like-scam-scheme-that-stole-46000-bitcoin-from-victims/"}]},{"content":"Chinese law enforcement seized approximately 425.69 million yuan (approximately $60–64 million USD) in illegal proceeds from the WoToken operators, which were ordered forfeited to the state treasury. This represents a small fraction — approximately 5.5% — of the approximately 7.7 billion yuan total investor deposits, indicating that the bulk of investor funds were redistributed through the scheme's Ponzi payouts or otherwise unrecoverable. No information has been identified in available sources indicating any dedicated restitution mechanism for the 715,249 defrauded investors.","heading":"Asset Confiscation and Victim Recovery","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: Operators of $1B Ponzi scheme WoToken sentenced to 9 years in prison","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/operators-of-1b-ponzi-scheme-wotoken-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockcast.cc: 7.7 Billion Involved — WoToken Wallet Verdict in the Second Instance","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockcast.cc/7-7-billion-involved-wotoken-wallet-verdict-in-the-second-instance/"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Bitcoin.com News: $1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi — Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/billion-crypto-ponzi-wotoken-prison-china/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"The Block: China sentences masterminds of $1 billion crypto Ponzi scheme to prison","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/82783/china-crypto-ponzi-prison-wotoken-billions"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: Operators of $1B Ponzi scheme WoToken sentenced to 9 years in prison","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/operators-of-1b-ponzi-scheme-wotoken-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGeek: PlusToken 2.0? New Chinese Ponzi scheme nets $1B in digital currencies","type":"news_article","url":"https://coingeek.com/plustoken-2-0-new-chinese-ponzi-scheme-nets-1b-in-digital-currencies/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"BehindMLM: WoToken Ponzi co-founders sentenced to prison in China","type":"news_article","url":"https://behindmlm.com/companies/wotoken-ponzi-co-founders-sentenced-to-prison-in-china/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"BehindMLM: WoToken Review — WOR token Appollo bot Ponzi scheme","type":"research","url":"https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/wotoken-review-wor-token-appollo-bot-ponzi-scheme/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CryptoPotato: The New PlusToken — Chinese Scam WOTOKEN Stole Over $1 Billion","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptopotato.com/the-new-plustoken-chinese-scam-wotoken-stole-over-1-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinTelegraph: PlusToken Scammer Implicated in China's Second Ten-Figure Crypto Ponzi","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/plustoken-scammer-implicated-in-chinas-second-ten-figure-crypto-ponzi"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockcast.cc: 7.7 Billion Involved — WoToken Wallet Verdict in the Second Instance","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockcast.cc/7-7-billion-involved-wotoken-wallet-verdict-in-the-second-instance/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Quadriga Initiative: WoToken Wallet Service Fraud Profile","type":"research","url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinIdol: $1.1bn Cryptocurrency Scam Could Be Linked to Plus Token Pyramid Scheme","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinidol.com/cryptocurrency-scam-scheme/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ZyCrypto: Chinese Police Uncover PlusToken-like Scam Scheme That Stole 46,000 Bitcoin","type":"news_article","url":"https://zycrypto.com/chinese-police-uncover-plustoken-like-scam-scheme-that-stole-46000-bitcoin-from-victims/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Blockchain.news: China-Based Crypto Ponzi Scheme Generates $1 Billion Before Being Flagged","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockchain.news/news/china-based-crypto-ponzi-scheme-generates-1-billion-flagged"}],"summary":"WoToken was a Chinese cryptocurrency multi-level marketing Ponzi scheme that operated from July 2018 to October 2019, defrauding approximately 715,249 investors of roughly 7.7 billion yuan (approximately $1.1–$1.15 billion USD) in cryptocurrency. Six defendants were tried in May 2020 and four primary operators received prison sentences of up to 8.5 years following a second-instance ruling by the Intermediate People's Court of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province in October 2020. At least one operator was reported to have prior involvement in the PlusToken scheme, leading observers to describe WoToken as 'PlusToken 2.0.'","timeline":[{"date":"2018-07","event":"WoToken founders conceived the scheme and began building the platform","source":"CoinGeek / CryptoPotato","source_url":"https://coingeek.com/plustoken-2-0-new-chinese-ponzi-scheme-nets-1b-in-digital-currencies/"},{"date":"2018-08","event":"WoToken launched operations, accepting cryptocurrency deposits from investors across China","source":"Bitcoin.com News","source_url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/billion-crypto-ponzi-wotoken-prison-china/"},{"date":"2019-07","event":"PlusToken scheme dismantled by Chinese authorities; WoToken continued operating independently","source":"CoinTelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/plustoken-scammer-implicated-in-chinas-second-ten-figure-crypto-ponzi"},{"date":"2019-10-08","event":"WoToken had accumulated 715,249 users and 7.7 billion yuan in crypto assets across 501 MLM levels","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/82783/china-crypto-ponzi-prison-wotoken-billions"},{"date":"2019-10","event":"WoToken ceased operations after approximately 15 months","source":"CoinGeek","source_url":"https://coingeek.com/operators-of-1b-ponzi-scheme-wotoken-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison/"},{"date":"2020-04-04","event":"WoToken blocked user withdrawals, citing alleged technical issues, precipitating collapse","source":"Quadriga Initiative","source_url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"date":"2020-05-14","event":"Trial of six WoToken defendants began in the People's Court of Binhai County, Yancheng City","source":"CryptoPotato","source_url":"https://cryptopotato.com/the-new-plustoken-chinese-scam-wotoken-stole-over-1-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/"},{"date":"2020-09","event":"WoToken website hosting expired","source":"Quadriga Initiative","source_url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/hackfraudscam/wotokenwalletservice.php"},{"date":"2020-10-27","event":"Intermediate People's Court of Yancheng City denied all appeals and issued final sentences: Gao Yudong 8.5 years, Li Qibing 7 years, Wang Xiaoying 7 years, Tian Yongbo 2.5 years","source":"Blockcast.cc / Bitcoin.com News","source_url":"https://blockcast.cc/7-7-billion-involved-wotoken-wallet-verdict-in-the-second-instance/"}]},"v":1}