Original text: Huione: the company behind the largest ever illicit online marketplace has launched a stablecoin
Source: Elliptic Research; Compiled by: 0xjs@黄金财经
Key points:
Huione Guarantee is a Telegram-based marketplace that serves scammers in Southeast Asia, including those who carry out the so-called "pig killing" scam.
Merchants on the platform sell technology, personal data, and money laundering services. With a total transaction volume of at least $24 billion, it is the largest illegal online market ever.
Huione Group has recently launched a series of crypto-related products, including US dollar stablecoins, blockchains, cryptocurrency exchanges, and messaging applications.
Elliptic has identified thousands of wallet addresses associated with Huione businesses and illicit vendors operating on Huione Guarantee, enabling crypto clients to protect themselves from such activity.
In July 2024, Elliptic exposed Huione Guarantee as a multi-billion dollar marketplace for cyber scammers, including those responsible for the so-called pig-killing scam. The Chinese marketplace is affiliated with the Huione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate with ties to the family of Cambodian ruler Hun Sen.
Elliptic researchers found thousands of vendors on the platform offering money laundering services, stolen personal data, technology, and other items needed to conduct large-scale cyber fraud. We even found electric shackles used to defraud park workers, many of whom were trafficked into the country.The marketplace appears to be a key enabler for transnational organized crime groups to defraud victims around the world.
Huione Guarantee distances itself from Huione Group
After the Elliptic research report was published, Huione Guarantee attempted to distance itself from Huione Group. For example, the marketplace was recently renamed "Haowang Guarantee". Huione Group's payment business, Huione Pay, also removed the section of its website dedicated to the marketplace and describing Huione Guarantee as a subsidiary. Despite this distance, Huione Guarantee confirmed that Huione Group remains a "strategic partner and shareholder."
Huione Guarantee announces name change but clarifies it remains part of Huione Group. (Translated from original Chinese post)
Elliptic’s research and the resulting international attention also appear to have influenced Huione Guarantee’s listing policy. The marketplace had previously said it was not responsible for specific goods bought and sold on its platform. However, after our research was published, Huione Guarantee said certain types of business activity were prohibited, including any activity related to “human trafficking,” “guns,” and “terrorism.”
After the Elliptic study was released, a notice was added to the Huione Guarantee website announcing new restrictions on the goods and services that can be sold on the marketplace.
Huione Guarantee Market Continues to Grow
However, the goods and services offered on Huione Guarantee appear to have remained largely unchanged, and business is booming. Our latest analysis shows that cryptocurrency wallets used by Huione Guarantee and its suppliers have received at least $24 billion. Monthly inflows have increased 51% since our research was published in July.
The value of cryptocurrency received by wallets used by Huione Guarantee and its suppliers. These figures include new wallets identified as belonging to Huione Guarantee since our last report.
In addition, nearly $6 billion in cryptocurrency has flowed through Telegram bots used primarily for Huione Guarantee online gambling. Initial analysis of bets placed through the platform suggests that much of this may constitute money laundering.
These figures suggest that Huione Guarantee is already the largest online illegal market ever. It dwarfs the largest darknet market ever, Hydra, which raked in around $5 billion in cryptocurrency over its six-year history. This reflects the scale of the online scam compared to the online illegal drug trade, which has been the focus of most darknet markets to date.
The largest online illegal market ever, based on the value of known cryptocurrency inflows. (The dollar value of cryptocurrency transactions is calculated based on the prevailing exchange rate at the time of each transaction)
Slaughtering Pigs
Hundreds of vendors on Huione Guarantee continue to offer illegal goods and services, including money laundering from the proceeds of the so-called "slaughtering pigs" scam.
Recent posts from Huione Guarantee vendors offering money laundering services to clean up pig-killing scams targeting victims worldwide (“chat”, “Fine chat”, “Fine materials” refer to a category of fraud that includes pig-killing scams and their proceeds). (Translated from the original Chinese post)
One of the money laundering services continues to be provided by another Huione Group company, Huione Pay – as described in our previous research. Another money laundering service provider claims to represent and operate a reported fraud park, Golden Fortune Technology Park. Trafficked Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese nationals were reportedly forced to conduct online fraud in the Jincaifu Park. Workers who escaped were reportedly chased and beaten by security guards, while many female workers were forced into prostitution and pornography.
(Left) A money laundering service provider claims to represent and operate a reported fraud park, providing money laundering services to launder the proceeds of pig slaughtering.
(Right) The Jincaifu campus consists of buildings with wire mesh windows and is surrounded by a 10-foot-high wall topped with barbed wire.
Huione’s Crypto Infrastructure
In other developments, Huione Group recently launched its own crypto and communications infrastructure, which could reduce reliance on third-party services like Telegram and the USDT stablecoin.
In September, Huione launched its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, USDH. Its website states that the advantage of USDH is that it "avoids the freezing and transfer restrictions common in traditional digital currencies" and that "USDH is not restricted by traditional regulators."
The USDH stablecoin promotes its lack of regulatory oversight and no asset freezes as its main advantages.
Other stablecoins, such as Tether's USDT, have built-in features that allow token issuers to "freeze" accounts if users engage in illegal activities. In fact, one of Huione Pay's accounts was frozen by Tether in July 2024. This appears to be because the wallet received funds associated with the North Korean Lazarus Group theft, rather than because of a connection to Huione Guarantee.
Huione Guarantee currently uses USDT extensively as a payment mechanism, and part of the motivation for launching USDH may be to reduce the risk of similar asset freezes. The market has recently begun promoting stablecoins to its users.
The USDH stablecoin is promoted by Huione Guarantee.
So far, USDH has been issued on the Ethereum, BSC and Tron blockchains, as well as Huione’s own recently launched blockchain, Huione Chain (also known as Xone Chain). The project sought to raise funds through an initial coin offering (ICO), which involved the sale of the blockchain’s native token “HC”.
In addition to Huione Chain, Huione Group has also launched its own crypto wallet software and decentralized exchange (DEX), allowing USDH to be exchanged for other crypto assets.
ChatMe messaging app
Huione Guarantee currently operates through a network of channels on Telegram. Telegram has faced increasing pressure to regulate its platform and prevent it from being used for illegal purposes, culminating in the arrest of its founder, Pavel Durov.
Huione's "ChatMe" messaging app is available on Apple AppStore
In August, Huione Group launched ChatMe, a messaging app that replicates many of Telegram's features. ChatMe is available for download on both the Apple and Google app stores and allows the creation of group chats and bots, the type of bots Huione Guarantee uses to operate its marketplace. ChatMe is also integrated with Huione Chain for payments and other features.
Huione Crypto Exchange
Huione Crypto also launched in September, allowing users to trade between the USDH stablecoin and crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRX, SOL, and Dogecoin.Cambodia-based Huione Pay has been offering crypto assets for some time, but Huione Crypto is the first dedicated cryptocurrency exchange from the Huione Group. Huione Crypto is based in Poland and can serve users across the EU and offers Chinese support.
Huione Guarantee continues to grow, and our research shows that it has become a major driver of online fraud operations in Southeast Asia.
Miyuki
