Crypto exit-scam / Ponzi archetype + the Binance enforcement case
Two different things, deliberately kept apart.
The archetype (Crypto_Exit_Scam)
The recurring structure: a platform - exchange, "lending" program, or token - takes customer deposits, promises impossible returns or frictionless withdrawals, then freezes withdrawals and the operators vanish or the entity shuts down. Funds gone; no product delivered.
| Instance | Operator | Scale | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| OneCoin | Ruja Ignatova ("Cryptoqueen") | ~$4B+ (reports to ~$19B), 3M+ members, no real blockchain | Vanished 2017; FBI Ten Most Wanted |
| Thodex | Faruk Fatih Ozer | ~$2B frozen, 400k+ users | Fled to Albania; sentenced 11,196 years (Turkey) |
| QuadrigaCX | Gerald Cotten | ~$190M inaccessible | Sole-custody keys "lost" at Cotten's reported 2018 death; OSC found Ponzi characteristics (death publicly doubted) |
| Africrypt | Cajee brothers | ~$3.6B BTC (amount disputed) | "Hack" claim; staff locked out a week prior |
| BitConnect | Satish Kumbhani | ~$2.4B | "Lending" Ponzi (~40%/mo); collapsed 2018; charged |
| FTX | Sam Bankman-Fried | multi-billion | Customer funds diverted to Alameda; 25-year sentence |
Binance is NOT on that list
Binance pleaded guilty (Nov 2023) and paid >$4.3B for anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures (Bank Secrecy Act, unlicensed money transmission, IEEPA) - coordinated across DOJ, FinCEN, OFAC, and CFTC. CZ pleaded to the BSA AML failure, resigned, paid a $50M personal fine, served 4 months (sentenced Apr 2024; DOJ had sought 36), retained ~90% of Binance, and was pardoned by President Trump in October 2025.
That is a compliance/sanctions case against an operating exchange - customer funds were not stolen. Conflating it with a fund-stealing exit scam would be inaccurate, so the graph models the two as separate edge sets. (Binance's affiliate/WLFI/MGX ties live in spec-exchanges-asia.)
Honest boundaries
Enforcement outcomes and founder actions are documented (DOJ, FBI, court records, national regulators). Where a loss figure is disputed (Africrypt) or ranged (OneCoin), it is graded as such. The QuadrigaCX founder's death is recorded as publicly contested, not asserted. Intent is read from documented conduct and findings, not inferred from the crypto label.
Sources: every figure's URLs are in the matching research/spec-crypto-exit-scam-pattern.json. Cross-refs: SE-Asia scam nexus, crypto-enforcement actors, exchanges-asia.
← Research index · structured data: spec-crypto-exit-scam-pattern.json · spec-crypto-exit-scam-pattern.md