U.S. Treasury Sanctions $20 Billion Chinese-Language Marketplace Xinbi Guarantee With Tether Assistance
Key Takeaways
- •The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language online marketplace accused of operating as a financial hub for cyber scams, fraud, and money laundering.
- •The marketplace processed more than $24 billion in cryptocurrency and fiat currency since 2022, according to authorities.
- •The Justice Department separately seized Xinbi's Telegram infrastructure and restrained over $52 million in cryptocurrency, including two wallets containing about $12 million, while seeking to freeze 47 more wallets.
- •Specialized 'Black U' launderers replaced traceable North Korea-linked stolen funds with stablecoins sourced from other illicit streams, such as pig-butchering and romance scams, making the funds harder to trace.
- •Authorities said the marketplace's users included networks linked to North Korean hackers and other sanctioned criminal groups.
The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language online marketplace that authorities say became a major financial hub for cyber scams, fraud, and money laundering. The marketplace processed more than $24 billion in cryptocurrency and fiat currency since 2022. The source headline characterizes the case as involving assistance from Tether, although the supplied report provides no further details about that claim.
The Justice Department separately seized Xinbi’s Telegram infrastructure and restrained more than $52 million in cryptocurrency linked to the marketplace and its network of vendors. Investigators seized two wallets containing about $12 million and sought to freeze another 47 wallets.
Xinbi operated as an escrow marketplace that connected scam operators with vendors offering money-laundering services, technology, and other services. Authorities said the marketplace’s users included networks linked to North Korean hackers and other sanctioned criminal groups.
The laundering process relied on substitution rather than obfuscation. Specialized vendors known as “Black U” launderers accepted traceable, DPRK-linked stolen funds and replaced them with stablecoins sourced from separate illicit revenue streams. Those streams included proceeds from pig-butchering and romance scams moving through the same marketplace ecosystem.
The stolen funds consequently blended into a broader pool of illicit activity, making them more difficult to trace. At the same time, DPRK-linked actors received nominally “clean” stablecoins that they could convert into fiat currency through unlicensed over-the-counter desks.
The action highlights how crypto-enabled scam networks have developed into interconnected marketplaces that provide criminals with infrastructure, payment services, and laundering capabilities at scale. It also demonstrates the growing use of blockchain tracing, asset freezes, and sanctions to target the financial infrastructure supporting cybercrime rather than only the individual scammers.
Source: BitcoinKE.
