Overview

• Xinbi Guarantee and Haowang Guarantee collectively facilitated over $35 billion in illicit transactions, dwarfing historic dark web markets like Silk Road and Alphabay.
• Telegram's action followed investigations by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic and a U.S. Treasury designation of Haowang’s parent company, Huione Group, as a primary money laundering concern.
• The marketplaces enabled a wide range of criminal activities, including pig butchering scams, money laundering, harassment-for-hire, and sex trafficking.
• Haowang Guarantee has ceased operations, while Xinbi Guarantee’s operators are reportedly regrouping under successor platforms like Tudou Guarantee.
• The crackdown highlights the ongoing challenge of combating cybercrime networks that exploit encrypted messaging platforms for industrial-scale fraud.