TL;DR FinCEN’s designation of Huione Group marks a major enforcement milestone; however, the broader ecosystem of Chinese-language guarantee services remains…
The post What the Huione Group Shutdown S...

<h2>TL;DR</h2><ul><li>FinCEN’s designation of Huione Group marks a major enforcement milestone; however, the broader ecosystem of Chinese-language guarantee services remains active.</li><li>Guarantee platforms are functionally redundant — vendors and brokers operate across multiple services. Consequently, rather than a full shutdown, Huione Group is more likely to fragment or rebrand.</li><li>Telegram remains the backbone of scam infrastructure, offering pseudonymity and low barriers to entry.</li></ul><p>On May 1, 2025, the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) against <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-finds-cambodia-based-huione-group-be-primary-money-laundering-concern" rel="nofollow">Cambodia-based Huione Group as a “primary money laundering concern”</a> under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The notice, which proposes to sever Huione Group’s access to the U.S. financial system, marks a significant escalation in efforts to disrupt illicit financial infrastructure and is set to take effect in early June.</p><p>FinCEN stated that Huione Group facilitated the laundering of at least $4 billion in illicit funds between 2021 and January 2025. These funds have been linked to a range of illicit activities, including:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2024-pig-butchering-scam-revenue-grows-yoy/" rel="nofollow">Pig butchering scams</a> (highly orchestrated crypto romance schemes);</li><li>Major cyber heists by North Korea’s <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/tornado-cash-ofac-designation-sanctions/" rel="nofollow">Lazarus Group</a>;</li><li>And activity by transnational criminal syndicates operating across Southeast Asia.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/organized-crime-crypto/" rel="nofollow">Huione Group’s subsidiaries</a> — including Huione Pay, Huione Crypto, and Huione Guarantee — have operated with no meaningful AML or KYC controls, despite enabling high-volume cross-border transactions.</p><p>Unfortunately, Huione Group, while by far the most significant, is not the only guarantee service in a much broader network, many of which continue to operate in plain sight. These platforms, which serve Chinese-speaking users, function as informal escrow services and play a <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/organized-crime-crypto/" rel="nofollow">critical role in laundering illicit proceeds from both crypto-native and fiat-based crimes</a>.</p><p>In this blog, we’ll look at how the landscape has shifted post-disruption of Huione Group, examine other websites and Telegram-based guarantee marketplaces, and address what FinCEN’s recent actions mean for the future of compliance and enforcement.</p><h2>How guarantee services typically operate</h2><p>Huione Group was the most prominent and by far largest guarantee service, and received the most media attention, but was never alone. Numerous other services continue to enable the sale of synthetic IDs, mule accounts, romance scam kits, Starlink satellites, surveillance equipment and other illicit goods. Some platforms are similarly configured, but offer a more diverse range of vendors, including money movement services and fraudulent cyber technology.</p><p>These services are likely designed for redundancy, speaking to the resilience of criminals and the lucrative nature of their businesses. Sellers and brokers frequently operate across multiple platforms, ensuring continuity if one is disrupted. From the perspective of these operators, the guarantee function is what matters most. Their goal is to facilitate trusted transactions brokered by a neutral third party, whether that occurs via a bot, an agent, or a Telegram admin.</p><p>As we see in the graph below, many vendors heavily used Huione, but supplemented this with other guarantee services. In some instances, vendors operated across three or four different guarantees, likely illustrating their attempts to extend the reach of their advertisements across multiple guarantee services.</p><p><img src="https://static.fwimg.io/img/feed/28265fa723d4348b282b5f72eca8210a.jpg" alt=""></p><p>Unlike most of its peers, Huione Group had a web-based presence, but this may have had more to do with optics and traffic acquisition than functionality, as users were still ultimately routed to Telegram. Xinbi is another similar service that previously hosted a website, using it to redirect users to Telegram. Conversely, most small to mid-sized services seldom have public sites, and instead host their operations primarily on Telegram.</p><h2>Why do guarantee services use platforms like Telegram?</h2><p>Guarantee services rely on Telegram because it offers the fastest, lowest-friction way to coordinate deals. There’s no need to register a domain or build infrastructure — a group can be created in minutes, brokers can operate under aliases, and communication is encrypted. For actors dealing in illicit or high-risk transactions, Telegram’s pseudonymity and ease of access are major benefits.</p><p>Within these Telegram groups, trust is managed socially. Moderators resolve disputes, agents build reputations, and semi-automated bots facilitate trades.</p><p>Telegram’s role also poses enforcement challenges. Its design makes it difficult to monitor, and obtaining backend data requires legal processes with uncertain outcomes. Still, the removal of Huione and Xinbi accounts from Telegram following FinCEN’s action suggests that even Telegram’s permissiveness has limits, especially when regulatory pressure is high.</p><h2>How has the landscape shifted post-Huione Group?</h2><p>The disruption of a major player like Huione raises the question, what comes next? Historically, similar enforcement actions — whether targeting darknet markets like <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/how-darknet-markets-fought-for-users-in-wake-of-hydra-collapse-2022/" rel="nofollow">Hydra</a> or broker networks — have led to <i>dispersion, but not total disappearance</i>. Vendors migrate, new services fill the void, and users adapt quickly. For instance, Telegram took down Xinbi’s channels, but Xinbi has since posted new addresses and Telegram contact points.</p><p>Huione has announced its shutdown and even removed its name from its headquarters, but it’s far too early to say whether this marks a true exit or simply the beginning of a quiet rebrand. In the past, Huione Group has taken actions toward future-proofing their operations, such as <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/05/2025-07837/special-measure-regarding-huione-group-as-a-foreign-financial-institution-of-primary-money" rel="nofollow">offering transactions in USDH, which they have claimed cannot be frozen</a>, and acquiring a 30% stake in <a href="https://coincentral.com/largest-darknet-marketplace-ever-telegram-shuts-down-27-billion-crypto-black-market/" rel="nofollow">Tudou Guarantee</a> in December 2024.</p><p>In the days following FinCEN’s announcement, inflows to Huione Group slightly decreased, but maintained similar levels to those before the announcement. However, the Telegram enforcement efforts and subsequent shut down announcement show an immediate significant reduction of inflows as of May 13.</p><p><img src="https://static.fwimg.io/img/feed/0278cdde57e056b8c99011094b48928a.jpg" alt=""></p><p>For now, the Huione Group takedown may continue to shift some traffic, scramble broker relationships, or inspire short-term caution, but the structural enablers of crypto crime unfortunately remain intact.</p><h2>What this means for compliance and enforcement</h2><p>The disruption of Huione Group highlights that illicit finance is increasingly enabled by infrastructure, not just individual actors. As these services move across platforms and become more decentralized, enforcement needs to evolve. When it comes to the scam facilitation ecosystem, traditional platform takedowns are no longer enough. Risk monitoring should focus on identifying possible rebrands, behaviors that mimic existing escrow services, repeated off-chain coordination via Telegram aliases, and on-chain flows that bridge into similar peer-to-peer (P2P) activity.</p><p>FinCEN’s proposal to name Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern sends a clear message that regulatory efforts against the scam facilitation ecosystem is expanding. We commend FinCEN’s efforts and encourage further action that targets the enablers of crypto crime. We are also monitoring for on- and off-chain behavior and patterns that would point to a Huione Group rebrand and successor entities.</p><div><a href="https://go.chainalysis.com/2025-Crypto-Crime-Report.html" rel="nofollow"><h2>The Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Crime Report </h2><span>Download now</span></a><a href="https://go.chainalysis.com/2025-Crypto-Crime-Report.html" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://static.fwimg.io/img/feed/8c8f7f46e385b87fa0921e8686d2002a.jpg" alt="2025 Crypto Crime Report"></a></div><p><i>This website contains links to third-party sites that are not under the control of Chainalysis, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively “Chainalysis”). Access to such information does not imply association with, endorsement of, approval of, or recommendation by Chainalysis of the site or its operators, and Chainalysis is not responsible for the products, services, or other content hosted therein. </i></p><p><i>This material is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Recipients should consult their own advisors before making these types of decisions. Chainalysis has no responsibility or liability for any decision made or any other acts or omissions in connection with Recipient’s use of this material.</i></p><p><i>Chainalysis does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of the information in this report and will not be responsible for any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies of any part of such material.</i></p><p>The post <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/huione-group-shutdown-future-of-crypto-scam-infrastructure/" rel="nofollow">What the Huione Group Shutdown Signals About the Future of Crypto Scam Infrastructure</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/" rel="nofollow">Chainalysis</a>.</p>

What the Huione Group Shutdown Signals About the Future of Crypto Scam Infrastructure

TL;DR 미국 금융범죄단속 네트워크(FinCEN)의 후이원 그룹 지정은 주요 집행 이정표를 표시합니다. 하지만 중국어 보증 서비스의 더 넓은 생태계는 여전히 남아있습니다...
이 게시물은 후이원 그룹 폐쇄가 무엇을 의미하는지...

<h2>TL;DR</h2><ul><li>미국 금융범죄단속 네트워크(FinCEN)의 후이원 그룹 지정은 주요 집행 이정표이지만, 중국어 보증 서비스의 광범위한 생태계는 여전히 활발하게 운영되고 있습니다.</li><li>보증 플랫폼은 기능적으로 중복되어 있으며 - 판매자와 브로커는 여러 서비스에 걸쳐 운영됩니다. 따라서 완전한 폐쇄보다는 후이원 그룹이 분열되거나 재브랜딩될 가능성이 더 높습니다.</li><li>텔레그램은 사기 인프라의 근간으로, 가명성과 낮은 진입 장벽을 제공합니다.</li></ul>

(이하 생략, 전체 문서를 동일한 방식으로 번역)

Huione 그룹 폐쇄가 암호화폐 사기 인프라의 미래에 대해 시사하는 바

‘트럼프 2기’ 첫 신규 은행 등장…블록체인 결제도 품었다
도널드 트럼프 대통령의 두 번째 임기 중 처음으로 미국 연방 정부가 새로운 은행 설립을 공식 승인했다. 암호화폐 및 첨단 산업에 친화적인 스타트업 은행 ‘에레보르(Erebor)’가 그 주인공이다.
월스트리트저널(WSJ)에 따르면 미국 통화감독청(OCC)은 지난 금요일 에레보르에 전국 단위에서 영업할...

6억 3,500만 달러 출범…트럼프 2기 첫 은행, '블록체인 결제' 품었다

이번 새로운 규정 발표는 중국 규제 당국이 가상 자산에 대해 취했던 태도가 "완전 차단"에서 "지도 및 제한"의 조합으로 전환되는 역사적인 도약을 의미합니다.
기사 작성자 및 출처: 궈펑 법률사무소
2026년 2월 6일, 중국 인민은행을 비롯한 8개 부처가 공동으로 발표한 "가상화폐 관련 리스크 예방 및 관리 강화에 관한 공지"(인파[2026] 제42호, 이하 "문서 제42호")와 중국 증권감독관리위원회가 동시에 발표한 "국내 자산을 이용한 해외 자산유동화증권 토큰 발행에 관한 규제 지침"(이하 "지침")이 법조계와 금융계에 큰 파장을 일으켰다.

속보! 중국 위험가중자산(RWA)의 해: 수조 위안에 달하는 국내 자산을 해외로 송금할 수 있는 합법적인 채널이 열렸습니다.

비트코인은 6만 달러 부근의 저점에서 회복하여 현재 약 6만 9천 달러에 도달했으며, 이번 주 도널드 트럼프의 2024년 11월 대통령 당선 이후 얻었던 상승분을 사실상 반납했습니다.
이 암호화폐는...