Messaging app Telegram has closed thousands of channels belonging to suspected Chinese crypto crime marketing places after new research sheds light on the situation, according to Elliptic.
The closure follows a report published by the Blockchain Analytics company Tuesday in the rapidly growing telegram-based marketplace called Xinbi Guarantee.
The Colorado-In-In-In-In-In-Inchorporated Market Square has treated over $ 8.4 billion transactions using Tether’s USDT stableCOin since 2022. It facilitates services relating to money laundering, crypto-fraud connections and other illegal services, such as intimidation and sex trade, according to elliptical.
“Elliptic tracks about thirty other marketplaces, all utilization of telegram and stablecoin payments,” says the report.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Such marketplaces are an important part of southeastern Asia-based global CyberScam epidemic by giving scammers the tools needed to carry out fraud on an industrial scale.
One of the largest such marketplaces is Huione guarantee, according to chainalysis, facilitates similar services to Xinbi. The company behind it, Huione Group, has ties to Cambodia’s ruling family.
Xinbi and Huione, the two largest telegram -based marketplaces, are responsible for a total of $ 35 billion in illegal transactions, Elliptic said.
On May 1, the US TroSury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) Huione Group appointed a “primary money laundering of money,” said it helped money laundering with at least $ 4 billion value of illegal revenue between August 2021 and January 2025.
CyberScam epidemic
Services offered in marketplaces such as Xinbi and Huione are notorious to enable industrial scams over Southeast Asia.
These connections attract victims with the promise of well -paid it works. When they arrive, they are traded, imprisoned and forced to perform online pigs that scam fraud to pay false debt.
Xinbi suppliers offer Starlink -Satellite Internet equipment, often used by scams, fake IDs and databases with stolen personal information used to target potential fraud victims, Elliptic said.
Another major driving force for business is money laundering, according to the report. Such services are mostly used to whale the proceeds from fraud fraud, but funds from North Korean crypto Heists are also in the mixture.
Elliptic found that about $ 220,000 in the USDT originated from the Wazirx theft of $ 230 million in July, was sent to Xinbi, indicating that suppliers operating on the market were used to help whitewash the proceeds from Heisten.
However, it is not clear whether the North Korean IT workers interact with Xinbi suppliers directly.
“Our hypothesis is that the funds are under control of Chinese money laundering groups when they go into marketplaces like Xinbi,” Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder at Elliptic, told Coindesk via email.
Colorado connection
However, what separates Xinbi from other similar marketplaces is its connection to the United States
On its website, Xinbi describes himself as an “Investment and Capital Guarantee Group Company” that acts as a Colorado-based company, Elliptic said.
The Colorado Corporate Register shows a company called “Xinbi Co., Ltd” was incorporated in August 2022 with an office in Aurora, Colorado, although the Chinese-linguistic marketplace is primarily used by scammers in Asia.
“These marketplaces depend on trust,” Robinson said. “An American incorporation brings a certain level of legitimacy.”
Robinson also noted that similar marketplaces have previously performed exit fraud, where a business stops sending orders while still receiving payments and eventually going away with the money. “Anything that inspires confidence will help attract customers,” he said.
In January 2025, the company’s status was updated to criminal not to submit a periodic report.
Read more: Cambodian Huione Group received $ 98B in Crypto that led to American crash: Elliptic
