Elliptic Exposes Xinbi in $8.4 Billion Money Laundering Transactions

Elliptic, a British blockchain analytics firm, has exposed Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language Telegram-based marketplace, in an $8 billion money laundering transaction.

The London-based blockchain analytics firm explained that merchants on the Xinbi Guarantee marketplace sell technology. Still, their services go beyond that as they sell personal data and also help with money laundering services.

The investigation revealed that Tether’s USDT stablecoin is its primary payment method. The market has received $8.4 billion in transactions since 2022 through thousands of crypto addresses. In fact, some transactions can be linked to funds stolen by North Korean hackers.

Elliptic explained that the actual figure might be more than that, as there are other unknown ways Xinbi Guarantee and the like launder money. Notably, in Q1 of 2024, more than $1 billion in illicit funds poured in.

The marketplace also aggressively serves Southeast Asian fraudsters, including those orchestrating pig butchering scams.

“Merchants on Xinbi Guarantee are grouped into nine categories. The first four categories refer to money laundering services of various types, which make up the largest share of transactions,”

Elliptic stated.

Xinbi Guarantee claims to operate through Xinbi Co. Ltd, incorporated in Colorado, with 233,000 users and all businesses conducted in Chinese.

Xinbi Guarantee Helps Hackers Launder Proceeds from WazirX’s $230M Loss

In addition, Xinbi Guarantee has been actively operating with North Korea’s Lazarus Group hackers to launder their Illicit crypto assets.

For example, on July 18, 2024, WazirX suffered a significant cyberattack and lost approximately $230 million, which is equivalent to 45% of the exchange’s user funds.

The hacking was attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, although Elliptic and others subsequently attributed the hack to DPRK-linked actors.

Afterwards, Elliptic reported that on November 12, 2024, approximately $220,000 in USDT originating from the theft was sent to the Xinbi Guarantee address across nine transactions.

Besides, other vendors on Xinbi are involved in unrelated crypto crimes, including sex trafficking.

“Other vendors on Xinbi Guarantee catering to scam operators offer Starlink satellite internet equipment (often used by scam compounds), fake IDs and databases of stolen personal information used to target potential fraud victims,”

the report stated.

Elliptic Describes Huione as a Multi-Billion Dollar Marketplace for Online Fraudsters

In a similar vein, Elliptic exposed Huione Guarantee’s illicit activities in July 2024 and described the Telegram-based marketplace as a multi-billion-dollar marketplace for online fraudsters, including Southeast Asian fraudsters.

Merchants on the platform also sell technology and personal data and help with money laundering services.

The report stated that the marketplace’s transactions total at least $24 billion, making it the largest illicit online marketplace to have ever operated.

“Our researchers identified thousands of vendors on the platform, offering money laundering services, stolen personal data, technology and other items necessary to conduct online fraud on an industrial scale,”

Elliptic reported.

Luckily, in response to the investigation, Telegram has brought down thousands of Telegram channels belonging to both Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee, disrupting their odious activities.