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Telegram Shuts Down ‘Largest Illicit Online Marketplace’ After Elliptic’s Insights
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Jamie Crawley
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By Jamie Crawley|Edited by Parikshit Mishra
Updated May 15, 2025, 9:58 a.m. Published May 15, 2025, 9:35 a.m.
- Telegram has shut down illicit marketplace Huione Guarantee, which has facilitated transactions totaling over $27 billion in stablecoins.
- The marketplace was shut down based on insights provided by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
- “Our analysis indicates that Huione Guarantee has facilitated transactions totalling more than $27 billion since launching in 2021, making it the largest illicit online marketplace to have ever operated,” Elliptic wrote.
Telegram has shut down the illicit marketplace Haowang Guarantee, formerly Huione Guarantee, which has facilitated transactions totaling over $27 billion in stablecoins since 2021.
Haowang was shut down based on insights provided by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic on Tuesday.
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The closure took place amidst a crackdown on thousands of suspected Chinese crypto-crime channels operating on Telegram, following Elliptic’s report into marketplace Xinbi Guarantee.
Telegram has now shut down both Huione and Xinbi, which processed a combined $35 billion of illicit transactions in stablecoins, Elliptic wrote in a web post on Wednesday.
“Our analysis indicates that Huione Guarantee has facilitated transactions totalling more than $27 billion since launching in 2021, making it the largest illicit online marketplace to have ever operated,” Elliptic wrote.
Xinbi was the second largest, having processed transactions worth $8.4 billion since 2022, Elliptic added.
For perspective, notable “dark web” marketplaces such as the Silk Road and Alphabay processed $216 million and $639 million respectively.
Such marketplaces historically operated through anonymous browser Tor, but have more recently shifted their operations to Telegram, the messaging app with over a billion users.
Huione and Xinbi are referred to as “guarantee” marketplaces, a term designated for platforms that do not sell goods and services themselves, but provide a venue for merchants to sell to customers.
Read More: 1 in 5 Cross-Chain Crypto Investigations Involve More Than 10 Blockchains, Elliptic Finds
Jamie has been part of CoinDesk’s news team since February 2021, focusing on breaking news, Bitcoin tech and protocols and crypto VC. He holds BTC, ETH and DOGE.
