- Huione Guarantee facilitated over USD 27 billion in illicit transactions since 2021, eclipsing darknet markets like Silk Road and Hydra.
- The platform used USDT and escrow services to support a wide range of criminal services, while deliberately avoiding KYC or fund verification.
- After its shutdown, activity shifted to over 30 other marketplaces, with Tudou becoming the primary hub and others quickly expanding to maintain a decentralised fraud network.
It looks like Telegram’s shadow economy barely flinched after the collapse of Huione Guarantee.
As Crypto News Australia reported, in the weeks following the platform’s abrupt disappearance in early May, merchants quickly regrouped on Tudou Guarantee, a rival marketplace in which Huione itself holds a 30 % stake.
While Telegram banned thousands of Huione-related accounts in the wake of mounting evidence linking the platform to large-scale pig-butchering scams, it wasn’t enough to slow the machinery of online fraud.
According to a June 23 analysis from Elliptic, Huione’s collapse triggered an almost immediate migration, with Tudou absorbing its user base and transaction volume at a pace that mirrored pre-shutdown activity.
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Difficult to Dismantle
Elliptic stressed that Huione’s payment arm, Huione Pay, remains active and is often mistakenly conflated with the now-defunct Huione Guarantee. Though both fall under the same parent company, wallet analysis confirmed Huione Pay continues to process large USDT volumes even after FinCEN designated its parent as a major laundering concern and moved to block its US access.
Huione Guarantee, which operated under the claim of neutrality, facilitated over US$27B (AU$41B) in transactions since its 2021 launch, dwarfing previous darknet giants like Silk Road and Hydra.
It offered escrow services, relied heavily on USDT for settlement, and hosted an expansive network of merchant-run channels selling everything from stolen data and SIM cards to laundering routes and services tied to human trafficking.
Tudou has emerged as the default replacement, but smaller players are expanding rapidly across Telegram and other channels, using multiple venues to hedge against future disruptions, ensuring that the network behind Asia’s stablecoin-fueled fraud economy remains functional and decentralised.
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