US authorities have restrained approximately $52 million in cryptocurrency tied to Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language illicit marketplace operating on Telegram. The action included seizure of the marketplace's Telegram channels and same-day sanctions from the Treasury Department.
Xinbi Guarantee operated as a marketplace where vendors advertised services including custom fraud websites, money laundering, and recruitment for compounds in Southeast Asia. According to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, Xinbi has processed at least $24 billion in transactions since 2022, making it the second-largest such operation after Huione Guarantee, which handled $31 billion before shutting down in 2025. A linked payments service called Xinbi Pay processed an additional $6 billion, primarily in Tether (USDT) on the TRON blockchain.
The Justice Department credited Tether for its assistance in the operation. Prosecutors seized two Xinbi payment wallets containing approximately $12 million and moved against 47 additional wallets. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Xinbi a significant transnational criminal organization and separately designated two supporting entities.
A related law enforcement operation in Madagascar saw authorities dismantle 13 Chinese-run compounds and arrest nearly 400 people, with agents processing more than 3,200 devices over two weeks.
Following the freeze, Xinbi converted approximately $2.8 million from Tether into Decentralized USD (USDD), a stablecoin with no issuer freeze function. However, Elliptic noted that USDD is partly backed by freezable USDT, limiting its utility as an escape route. The incident has highlighted the vulnerability of cryptocurrency holdings held on guarantee marketplaces that depend on user trust in asset security.
