Huione Group

Huione Group (Chinese: 汇旺, romanized: huìwàng) is a Cambodian financial conglomerate,[1] headquartered in Phnom Penh.[2] Some of its products and subsidiaries include Huione Pay (Chinese: 汇旺支付, romanized: huìwàng zhīfù) (banking),[1] Huione Guarantee (Chinese: 汇旺担保, romanized: huìwàng dānbǎo) (an escrow and deposit service sometimes used as a grey market),[3] and Huione Crypto (Chinese: 汇旺(加密货币)交易所, romanized: huìwàng (jiāmì huòbì) jiāoyìsuǒ) (a cryptocurrency exchange).[3] The company is linked to Cambodia's ruling Hun family, which includes the current prime minister, Hun Manet.[4] His cousin Hun To is a major shareholder and director of Huione Pay.[5]

In July 2024, the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic linked Huione Guarantee to the sale of stolen data and money laundering services used to conduct illegal activities,[6] such as the so-called pig butchering scam.[3][4][2] In March 2025, the National Bank of Cambodia revoked Huione Pay's banking license.[1] In May, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network found Huione Group to be a financial institution of primary money laundering concern and proposed to sever its access to the U.S. financial system.[7] Shortly after, Telegram deleted thousands of channels used by Huione Guarantee and banned several accounts that had operated the marketplace.[8] It has grown to become the largest criminal marketplace of all time, with transactions totalling more than $27 billion.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Exclusive: World's 'largest online black market' loses banking license". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b Gebrekidan, Selam; Dong, Joy (23 March 2025). "Takeaways from Our Money Laundering Investigation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 23 March 2025. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Burgess, Matt. "The 'Largest Illicit Online Marketplace' Ever Is Growing at an Alarming Rate, Report Says". Wired.com. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b Greenberg, Andy. "The $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy". Wired.com. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  5. ^ Wilson, Tom (15 July 2024). "Exclusive: North Korean hackers sent stolen crypto to wallet used by Asian payment firm". Reuters.
  6. ^ "Huione Guarantee: The multi-billion dollar marketplace used by online scammers". Elliptic. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  7. ^ "FinCEN Finds Cambodia-Based Huione Group to be of Primary Money Laundering Concern, Proposes a Rule to Combat Cyber Scams and Heists". FinCEN website. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  8. ^ Greenberg, Andy (14 May 2025). "The Internet's Biggest-Ever Black Market Just Shut Down Amid a Telegram Purge".
  9. ^ "Elliptic data leads to the shutdown of the two largest online criminal marketplaces of all time". Elliptic. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
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