Telegram shuts ‘largest darknet marketplace to have ever existed’

Telegram’s decisive action against Haowang Guarantee, a major Chinese darknet marketplace, marks a significant blow to global cybercrime. Operating on Telegram, Haowang Guarantee facilitated an estimated $27 billion in illicit transactions, primarily using Tether (USDT). Following Telegram’s May 13th ban of thousands of associated accounts, the marketplace announced its closure. This shutdown, involving the removal of numerous accounts and usernames integral to the marketplace’s infrastructure, represents a “huge win” according to Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson.

Haowang Guarantee provided a range of services to crypto scammers, including money laundering, the sale of stolen personal data for pig butchering scams, and access to telecommunications equipment, deepfake software, fraudulent IDs, and even physical restraint devices. The marketplace’s closure is expected to significantly hinder the operations of online scammers globally. The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) previously designated Haowang Guarantee as a money laundering operation, severing it from the US banking system.

While the closure of Haowang Guarantee is a positive development, the emergence of Xinbi Guarantee, another Telegram-based illicit marketplace, highlights the ongoing challenges in combating online criminal activity. Elliptic has already identified thousands of crypto addresses linked to Xinbi Guarantee, with transactions totaling $8.4 billion (though this is considered a lower bound). Xinbi’s connection to a now-delinquent Colorado-based company further underscores the international reach of these operations.

These marketplaces expose a concerning “China-based underground banking system” leveraging stablecoins and crypto payments for large-scale money laundering. The takedown of Haowang Guarantee, while impactful, emphasizes the need for continued vigilance and collaborative efforts to combat the evolving landscape of online criminal markets and their sophisticated methods of operation. The sheer scale of transactions processed by these marketplaces highlights the critical role of international cooperation in disrupting these illicit activities.