PlusToken Ponzi collapses, with billions in crypto absorbed and later liquidated onto markets

In late June 2019, the PlusToken "high-yield wallet" abruptly froze withdrawals and six ringleaders were arrested in Vanuatu, ending one of the largest crypto Ponzi schemes ever, which had absorbed roughly 314,000 BTC plus millions of ETH and other coins from over 2 million investors. Chinese authorities eventually jailed the operators and seized the haul; the gradual liquidation of those coins was widely blamed for dragging on Bitcoin's price through 2019. As far as "decentralized finance" goes, it was mostly a centralized exit.