Source: FreeBuf
Since 2022, a Telegram trading platform called "Xinbi Guarantee" has facilitated transactions amounting to no less than $8.4 billion, becoming the second-largest black market platform exposed after HuiOne Guarantee. A report by blockchain analysis firm Elliptic indicates that merchants on this platform openly sell technical tools, personal data, and money laundering services.
"USDT is the primary payment method, and this market has processed $8.4 billion in transactions to date," the report states, "some of the funds can be traced back to money stolen by North Korean hackers."
One-Stop Supply of Criminal Services
Similar to HuiOne, the Xinbi platform provides services to Southeast Asian scam groups, including criminal organizations that implement "pig butchering" scams. This scam model has become one of the most lucrative forms of cybercrime in recent years.
A notable feature of these criminal markets is their complete reliance on Telegram for operations, offering a full range of solutions from technical tools to money laundering services, allowing online scams to reach an industrial scale. According to Elliptic, Xinbi Guarantee has 233,000 users, with merchant services covering money laundering, Starlink satellite equipment, forged documents, and databases of personal information used to target victims.
Some merchants even offer illegal services such as domestic tracking intimidation, surrogacy agencies, and even sex work, indicating that their criminal ecosystem extends far beyond online scams.
Connection to North Korean Hackers
Elliptic specifically points out: "The market is growing rapidly—by the fourth quarter of 2024, it achieved a quarterly transaction volume exceeding $1 billion for the first time. The scale of transactions far exceeds that of the first generation of Tor-based dark web markets."
Xinbi claims to be a "capital investment guarantee group company" registered in Colorado, USA, with Mohd Shahrulnizam Bin Abd Manap listed as the registrant. Colorado state government records show that the company has been marked as "non-compliant" for failing to submit periodic reports on time.
Investigations also revealed that after the Indian exchange WazirX was hacked in July last year, North Korea laundered stolen funds through the Xinbi and HuiOne platforms. On November 12, 2024, $220,000 USDT was transferred to a wallet address controlled by Xinbi.
Regulatory Crackdown and Subsequent Impact
In response, Telegram has shut down thousands of channels associated with the two platforms, dismantling the largest black market that has processed over $35 billion in USDT transactions.
Previously, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had designated the HuiOne Group in Cambodia as a "primary money laundering concern" to restrict its access to the U.S. financial system.
Reference Source:
Xinbi Telegram Market Tied to $8.4B in Crypto Crime, Romance Scams, North Korea Laundering
https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/xinbi-telegram-market-tied-to-84b-in.html
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