Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “Elliptic: Illegal Trading Market Xinbi Registered in Colorado, Involving $8 Billion in Cryptocurrency”
A company registered in Colorado has been reported to have connections with an illegal market in China that serves Southeast Asian scammers and is used to transfer billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
According to a report by blockchain security company Elliptic on May 13, the market known as Xinbi Guarantee has received $8.4 billion in funds, primarily in the form of Tether (USDT) stablecoin transactions.
This illegal market, based on the Chinese Telegram platform, sells technology, personal data, and money laundering services, specifically supporting Southeast Asian scammers who target victims through "pig butchering" scams.
On its official website, Xinbi claims to be an "investment and capital guarantee group company" and states that it operates through Xinbi Co. Ltd, which was officially registered in Colorado in 2022.
Screenshots show the registration status of Xinbi Co. Ltd in the state of Colorado, USA. Source: Elliptic
"In January 2025, the company was updated to 'violating' status for failing to submit regular reports," Elliptic reported.
The core services offered by this black market include money laundering services, which is the largest business category, as well as technology provided to scammers such as Starlink devices, stolen personal data for precise targeting of victims, and fake IDs and other fraudulent documents.
Xinbi is the second-largest illegal online market discovered to date, with rapidly increasing transaction volumes. The transaction volume in the fourth quarter of 2024 has exceeded $1 billion, with evidence showing that the platform is associated with North Korean hackers laundering stolen funds, Elliptic researchers stated.
Elliptic has identified thousands of cryptocurrency wallet addresses used by Xinbi Guarantee and its merchants, noting that the $8.4 billion in transaction volume "should be regarded as the lower limit of the platform's actual trading scale."
The platform has 233,000 users and operates on a "guarantee model," requiring suppliers to pay a deposit to prevent fraud.
In July 2024, Elliptic revealed a similar Chinese market based on Telegram, called Huione Guarantee.
The security company found that the broader Huione group had facilitated over $98 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.
In early May of this year, the organization was identified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a money laundering operation and will be cut off from the U.S. banking system.
Illegal market cryptocurrency transaction volume. Source: Elliptic
Elliptic concluded that these platforms also reveal an "operational window of an underground banking system in the Chinese region based on stablecoins and other digital payments," which is being widely used for money laundering activities.
Related: What’s the Next Step for the U.S. Stablecoin Bill?
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