On May 13th, blockchain security firm Elliptic released a report stating that an illegal cryptocurrency market serving Southeast Asian fraudsters and involving billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions is associated with a company registered in Colorado. This illegal cryptocurrency market is called Xinbi Guarantee. As of now, it has received 8.4 billion US dollars in funds, and the transactions are mainly conducted in stablecoins such as Tether (USDT).
It is reported that the merchants on this Chinese illegal trading platform based on Telegram mainly sell technology, personal data and money laundering services to Southeast Asian fraudsters, who often use the “pig slaughtering scheme” to defraud their victims. On its website, Xinbi Guarantee describes itself as an “Investment and Capital Guarantee Group Company” and claims to conduct business through Xinbi Co. Ltd., which was incorporated in Colorado in 2022. Elliptic’s report shows that in January 2025, the company’s status was updated to “in arrears” due to its failure to submit regular reports.
On this black market, money laundering services are the largest business category. In addition, merchants also offer services such as Starlink devices for fraudsters, stolen personal data for locking victims, as well as fake ID cards and other fraudulent documents.
Researchers from Elliptic stated that the new coin guarantee is currently the second-largest illegal online market discovered, with its trading volume growing rapidly. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the transaction amount exceeded one billion US dollars. Moreover, there is evidence suggesting that this platform is associated with the act of North Korean hackers launder stolen funds.
Elliptic identified the thousands of cryptocurrency addresses used by the new coin guarantee and its merchants, and pointed out that the transaction amount of 8.4 billion US dollars “should be regarded as the lower limit of the actual trading volume of the platform”. This platform has 233,000 users and operates under the “guarantee model”, requiring merchants to deposit a guarantee to prevent fraud.
In July 2024, Elliptic exposed another similar Chinese market based on Telegram – Hui One Guarantee. At that time, the company discovered that the broader Huiyi Group Company facilitated more than 98 billion US dollars in cryptocurrency transactions. In early May this year, Huiyi Guarantee was designated as a money laundering agency by the US Department of the Treasury and will be cut off from the US banking system.
Elliptic concluded that these platforms also revealed a “Chinese underground banking system” centered on stablecoins and other digital payments, which is being used on a large scale for money laundering activities.
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