How Telegram Took Down a $27B Black Market
The post How Telegram Took Down a $27B Black Market appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
TLDR Haowang Guarantee, a Chinese-language marketplace on Telegram for crypto scammers, shut down after mass account bans The marketplace facilitated over $27 billion in illicit transactions, making it possibly the largest black market in internet history Services included money laundering via Tether, victim data, and equipment used in scam compounds across Southeast Asia Telegram’s ban followed inquiries from WIRED and research by crypto-tracing firm Elliptic A similar marketplace called Xinbi Guarantee, which handled $8.4 billion in illicit transactions, was also affected by the ban Haowang Guarantee, described by researchers as potentially the internet’s largest black market ever, has shut down following a massive purge of accounts by Telegram. The Chinese-language marketplace, which enabled over $27 billion in illicit transactions, announced it would cease operations after Telegram banned thousands of accounts linked to the platform on May 13, 2025. “Telegrame were blocked all of our NFT, Channels and group on May 13th 2025, Haowang Grarantee will cease operation from now,” the company wrote in a brief, error-filled statement on its website. The marketplace previously operated under the name Huione Guarantee before rebranding. Telegram’s actions came after WIRED contacted the messaging platform about findings from crypto-tracing firm Elliptic. The security researchers had been tracking the marketplace since July of last year, documenting its role in facilitating money laundering and other services for crypto scammers. The scope of the operation was massive. By Elliptic’s accounting, Haowang Guarantee had processed over $27 billion in transactions, making it “by far the largest single black market operation in the internet’s history,” according to their report. Services for Scammers The marketplace operated as a third-party vendor platform for crypto scammers, using deposit and escrow systems to “guarantee” transactions between users. The primary service was money laundering via the Tether cryptocurrency, but vendors also sold other tools essential…
