"Good旺 Guarantee" Black Market Empire Falls, Telegram Sweeps the World's Largest Illegal Trading Platform in One Go

The world’s largest online black market, “Haowang Guarantee,” has finally come to an end. After Telegram shut down thousands of channels and groups related to Haowang in mid-May 2025, this platform, which dominated Southeast Asia and was linked to a vast cross-border criminal network, announced a complete halt of operations.

Haowang Guarantee subsequently issued a closure statement on its official website: “Due to all NFTs, channels, and groups being blocked by Telegram, Haowang Guarantee will cease all operations immediately.” According to an investigation by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the trigger for Telegram’s action was a recent in-depth report published by Elliptic, which detailed Haowang’s black market operations and ultimately led to a series of law enforcement actions.

From $27 billion to how Haowang became the world’s largest black market

Haowang is essentially a “one-stop crime service platform,” aggregating thousands of third-party vendors within the Telegram ecosystem. These vendors sell various illegal services—from data theft and money laundering tools to cross-border scam support systems, covering all bases. The platform’s main customer base consists of Southeast Asian crypto scam groups and illegal online operators.

Elliptic’s tracking data shows that during its operation, Haowang processed transactions exceeding $27 billion in USDT (Tether). This scale is considered the largest illegal online trading market in history. More concerning is that the platform also used another dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDH, for transactions, issued by Haowang’s “partner and shareholder,” the Cambodian conglomerate “Huione Group.” Elliptic pointed out that USDH’s design may have features to evade traditional financial regulatory sanctions, making it a covert tool for fund transfers.

Cambodian conglomerate behind the scenes, North Korean hacker funds exposed

Haowang Guarantee did not appear out of nowhere; it is connected to a larger criminal ecosystem. Its predecessor was “Huione Guarantee,” closely linked to Huione Group, and even after rebranding, its background controversies remain difficult to shake.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently proposed an order to block Huione Group from entering the U.S. financial system. FinCEN stated that Huione Group, through its subsidiaries—including Haowang Guarantee, payment platform Huione Pay, and crypto exchange Huione Crypto—operates a “massive cross-border money laundering system.” The group’s overall money laundering scale is at least $4 billion, with some funds directly traceable to illegal proceeds from North Korean hacker organizations. This reveals that Haowang is not only a scam tool but also a conduit for international criminal funds.

Regulatory crackdown continues, Xinbi Guarantee also shut down

Telegram’s recent bans not only targeted Haowang Guarantee but also shut down another notorious black market, “Xinbi Guarantee.” Xinbi Guarantee is suspected of providing money laundering intermediary services and is involved in serious crimes such as extortion, kidnapping, and human trafficking.

According to Elliptic’s statistics, Haowang and Xinbi Guarantee processed over $35 billion in USDT combined. This large-scale crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to illegal transactions within the Telegram ecosystem. However, Elliptic warns that more than 30 underground trading platforms similar to Haowang Guarantee are still being tracked, indicating that the root of the black market problem has not been fully eradicated.

This regulatory wave shows that although individual platforms can be destroyed, the entire illegal trading ecosystem still requires more international cooperation and advanced technical measures to address.