Boom! $27 Billion Crypto Black Market Haowang Guarantee Blown to Bits by Telegram Crackdown

Telegram's Swift Action Follows Explosive Investigative Revelations

Holy smokes, folks! The crypto underworld just got rocked to its core. Haowang Guarantee, the monster black market that funneled over $27 BILLION in dirty crypto cash, has been obliterated in a massive Telegram takedown. This beast got the axe after some serious investigative heat.

Listen up, the internet's biggest crypto-fueled black market, Haowang Guarantee, got the rug pulled out from under it in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it account purge by Telegram. They dropped the bomb in a terse statement on Haowang's site, saying their "NFT, Channels and group" got blocked by the messaging giant on May 13. Talk about a digital smackdown!

So, what lit the fuse? Turns out, it was a fiery inquiry from WIRED, sparked by fresh intel from blockchain sleuths at Elliptic. They also sniffed out a smaller, but equally shady, marketplace called Xinbi. Telegram didn't mess around, banning thousands of accounts that were the lifeblood of both Haowang and Xinbi's shady dealings.

Telegram's spokesperson, Remi Vaughn, didn't mince words: "Communities previously reported to us by WIRED or included in reports published by Elliptic have all been taken down. Criminal activities like scamming or money laundering are forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and are always removed whenever discovered." Boom, mic drop!

Now, let's talk about Haowang, formerly known as Huione Guarantee. This Chinese-language black market was a sprawling network of third-party vendors peddling services to crypto scammers. We're talking money laundering with Tether (USDT), stolen data, deepfake software, and even gear used in scam compounds across Southeast Asia. These vendors operated through Telegram with an escrow system that "guaranteed" transactions. According to Elliptic, this market processed a mind-blowing $27 billion in dirty deals, making all previous dark-net marketplaces look like chump change.

Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, called the takedown "a game changer," and he's not kidding: "This is a huge win. The largest dark-net marketplace to have ever existed has been shut down. It's a big blow to the criminal ecosystem that will take a long time to recover from."

But hold onto your hats, because Haowang's operators might not be down for the count. Telegram activity suggests they're trying to herd users over to another shady platform called Tudou Guarantee. Elliptic says Haowang's admins have ties to Tudou, and there's been a surge in new users flocking to Tudou channels after Haowang and Xinbi got the boot. Whether they pull off a comeback depends on how hard Telegram keeps cracking down on these operations.

And get this, Telegram's move might've been nudged by the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. They just announced they're labeling Huione Group—Haowang's parent company—as a known money laundering operation, aiming to cut off its access to U.S. financial institutions. Talk about adding fuel to the fire!

Now, don't think this is the end of the road for Haowang. Sure, Telegram's action smashed their infrastructure, but Haowang's parent company, Huione Group, has ties to political bigwigs in the region, including the family of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. With that kind of influence and cash, they might just rebuild this illicit empire on less regulated platforms or decentralized networks.

Tom Robinson put it bluntly: "This isn't the end. Online crime is a cat-and-mouse game in general. But these are very large mice."