Huione Guarantee, a Cambodian-based illicit marketplace operating primarily on Telegram, has facilitated over $24 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, outpacing other darknet markets. Recently, it launched its own stablecoin, USDH, alongside a blockchain, crypto exchange, and messaging app to expand operations while evading regulatory oversight.
Key Insights
- Huione Guarantee Scale: Currently the Largest illicit marketplace, with over $24 billion in transactions, surpassing Hydra’s $5 billion.
- Huione offers services for fraud, money laundering, and trafficking; It’s also tied to multiple “pig butchering” scams.
- Huione recently launched USDH, a stablecoin marketed for avoiding regulatory oversight and freezing of assets, issued across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum and Tron.
- In an attempt to reduce dependence on Telegram, Huione introduced ChatMe in August 2024, integrating messaging features with its blockchain for seamless illicit activity management.
- Nearly $6 billion in cryptocurrency has flowed through a Telegram bot linked to Huione, primarily for online gambling (i.e laundering)
- Huione Guarantee rebranded as “Haowang Guarantee” and downplayed its association with its parent company, Huione Group
- Huione has built a complete ecosystem, including its blockchain (Huione Chain), a decentralized exchange, and a crypto wallet, ensuring self-reliance and regulatory evasion.
- Despite international attention, Huione’s operations are thriving, with user numbers surpassing 900,000 and monthly cryptocurrency inflows increasing by 51% since mid-2024.
As most of us know, Huione Guarantee isn’t your average run-in-the-mill online marketplace. It has the title of being one of the largest illicit online marketplaces ever known, operating out in the open on Telegram. What makes it even more unique is its reputation for hosting “pig butchering” scams. Scams that are so brutal that they’re named after fattening up a pig before slaughtering it. But they have something new up their sleeves as they start the 2025 year.
On this platform, merchants peddle stolen personal data, high-tech scam tools, and full-blown money laundering services. This isn’t some small-time operation either. We’re talking about over $24 billion in cryptocurrency flowing through wallets linked to the Huione Guarantee. To put that into perspective, Hydra the previously largest darknet market, handled a whopping $5 billion in its six-year run. The fact that Huione’s marketplace has outpaced it nearly five times over and in less than half the time, is a horrifying thought.
Close to $6 billion in cryptocurrency has been funnelled through a Telegram bot linked to Huione Guarantee, supposedly for online gambling. This isn’t your average betting app. Early investigations indicate a large portion of these transactions are tied to money laundering. In other words, they’ve built a bot to handle dirty money, pretty much on autopilot.
Unfortunately, Huione Guarantee is not slowing down any time soon. Since mid-2024, monthly inflows have jumped by 51%, and user numbers have exploded to over 900,000. For those keeping track, this platform isn’t just growing; it’s thriving on letting scams and fraud happen on a day-to-day basis, worldwide. The numbers are enough to make your jaw drop, but in reality, it’s the stories behind them that make it even more chilling.
A Marketplace Built on Scams and Suffering
Many of the scams that are linked to the Huione Guarantee are run from places like the Golden Fortune Science and Technology Park in Cambodia. Now, let’s not sugarcoat this, these are compounds, not offices. Barred windows, 10-foot walls, and barbed wire surround these places. Workers, many trafficked from Vietnam, Malaysia, and China, are forced to run cyber scams just like the pig butchering. It’s literal modern-day slavery, happening behind closed doors and 10-foot walls.
For those unlucky enough to try escaping, the consequences are brutal. There are reports of escapees being hunted down and beaten by guards. Women face even more horrific conditions, with many being forced into prostitution or coerced into producing pornography. Researchers even uncovered electrified shackles intended for use on scam compound workers.
Elliptic, a leading blockchain analytics firm, did research and uncovered vendors casually advertising their money laundering services while operating from these compounds. One vendor even bragged about processing 300+ cash-outs per day. The deeper you dig into this, the clearer it becomes, that Huione Guarantee isn’t just making a place for fraud; it’s fueling an entire ecosystem of exploitation and suffering.
Huione Tries to Clean Up Its Image… Barely
After Elliptic exposed Huione Guarantee in July 2024, you’d think they’d pack up shop, right? Wrong. Instead, they went for the classic rebranding trick, slapping on a new name, which was “Haowang Guarantee,” but with the same operation. But they’re still connected to their parent company, Huione Group.
Huione Pay (its payments arm) removed references to the marketplace from its website, and the marketplace itself has tried to downplay its connections to the parent company. But when you dig deeper, their statements still confirm Huione Group as a “strategic partner and shareholder.” In other words, it’s the same dodgy business, just wearing a new mask.
They even announced new “policies,” banning sales related to human trafficking, firearms, and terrorism, which is crazy that they had to “ban it” in the first place, if you think about it. Sounds good on paper, but actions speak louder than words, and the goods being sold haven’t really changed. The marketplace is still thriving, and the rebranding seems more like a PR move than a real effort to clean up its act.
USDH Stablecoin That Breaks the Rules
If rebranding wasn’t enough, Huione has now taken a big step into cryptocurrencies with its own stablecoin, USDH, launched in September 2024. But, this isn’t just a normal stablecoin, it’s specifically designed to dodge regulations. Huione said, “USDH isn’t bound by any pesky oversight, and your assets won’t be frozen.” For fraudsters and scammers, that’s all they want to hear.
But this move didn’t come out of nowhere. In July 2024, one of Huione Pay’s wallets was frozen by Tether, which is a major stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, after being linked to stolen funds connected to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Clearly, Huione didn’t want to deal with that headache again. Now there is USDH, a stablecoin they fully control, free from external intervention.
USDH is issued not only on Huione’s own blockchain (Huione Chain/Xone Chain) but also on Ethereum, BSC, and Tron. To top it off, they ran an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) for their blockchain’s native token, HC, and launched their own crypto wallet and decentralized exchange. By creating its own infrastructure, Huione can operate with even fewer restrictions, a scary thought given its track record.
Growing Out of Telegram
For years, Huione Guarantee has relied on Telegram to run its marketplace. But since Durov’s arrest, they’ve taken things a step further with ChatMe, a messaging app launched in August 2024. Available on Apple and Google app stores, it’s basically Telegram 2.0, with group chats and bots, and cleverly integrated with Huione Chain.
The most reasonable reason for them making their own app is to reduce reliance on Telegram, which has had a lot of pressure to crack down on all the illegal activity. With ChatMe, Huione can keep doing what they do best, operate a global network for scams, without having to worry about possibly being shut down by Telegram.
The Ongoing Fight Against Huione
Huione Guarantee is a huge player in the global fraud epidemic. The platform has let scams ruin lives, and its growth shows no signs of slowing down. But there is hope. Thanks to Elliptic’s research, thousands of crypto wallets linked to Huione Guarantee and its vendors have been identified.
Crypto exchanges, law enforcement, and even stablecoin operators now have the tools to block transactions tied to these wallets. Platforms like Investigator can trace payments and help law enforcement go after those responsible. But the battle is far from over, and these steps do make a difference. It’s crazy to think how one darknet marketplace can cause so much mayham. But this is just the beginning.