Two of the world's largest digital black markets - Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee - were permanently shut down by Telegram on May 13, 2025. These Telegram-based platforms, previously operating with near-impunity, had enabled over $35 billion in stablecoin transactions linked to scams, human trafficking, and money laundering. The takedown marks a turning point in the fight against industrial-scale cybercrime.
The Rise of Guarantee Marketplaces: A New Era of Digital Criminal Commerce
The closure of Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee highlights the massive scale and sophistication of online crime networks that have evolved beyond traditional darknet models. Unlike earlier marketplaces like Silk Road or Hydra that operated on the dark web through Tor, these new-age marketplaces thrived in plain sight—on Telegram, a mainstream messaging platform with over a billion users.
Guarantee marketplaces are structured to enable trustless commerce between criminals by offering escrow services, merchant deposits, automated dispute resolution bots, and most importantly, anonymity. All transactions were executed via Tether (USDT), a widely-used stablecoin, minimizing traceability while offering fast, global payments.
These platforms did not sell illicit goods directly. Instead, they functioned as digital bazaars where individual merchants offered everything from spoofing kits, phishing infrastructure, stolen identity data, and money laundering services to escort services, intimidation-for-hire, and child surrogacy. All of this was available on well-organized Telegram channels, often boasting hundreds of thousands of users.
Telegram's Crackdown: How the World's Largest Illicit Marketplaces Fell
Telegram's initial attempt in early 2025 to moderate these platforms was met with resistance. When Huione Guarantee's main channels were deleted, administrators swiftly redirected users to mirror groups using NFT-linked usernames - a clever workaround akin to registering backup domain names. Despite a drop in user numbers, the market stayed alive.
However, the game changed on May 13, 2025. Telegram not only deleted the channels associated with Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee but also banned their usernames. This is functionally equivalent to seizing a domain name: once the username is banned, marketplace administrators lose the ability to redirect users, effectively severing their lifeline.
Huione Guarantee immediately suspended operations and later confirmed its permanent closure, though it encouraged users to migrate to Tudou Guarantee - a rival platform in which it had a 30% stake. User migration has since surged by nearly 30%, signaling an attempted continuity plan.
Xinbi Guarantee, on the other hand, adopted a defiant stance. It announced plans to relaunch as "Xinbi 2.0," but users remain cautious amid fears of a looming exit scam, a common tactic where administrators disappear with user funds just before shutting down.
