‘The Internet’s Largest Illegal Market’ Is Growing Dangerously, Report Says

Adding an in-house chat service called “ChatMe,” a cryptocurrency exchange (Huione Crypto), and a stablecoin backed by the US dollar (“USDH”) show that Huione Guarantee is looking to become a full-service, self-sustaining platform. . The USDH website, Elliptic researchers say, describes itself as “unrestricted” by global regulators and says it “avoid[s]common freezes and restrictions” that may be applied to other cryptocurrencies.

In its work last year, Elliptic found that in the first three years of its operation, Huione Guarantee sellers. they were around $11 billion on stage. Less than a year later, researchers now estimate the total to be $24 billion. The different sizes of all platforms contribute to its expansion, but ultimately its acceleration and transfer functions are the main function.

“With the Huione Guarantee, the main product being sold is refunds for online fraud,” says Robinson. “Most of the money flowing in the market is related to vendors who offer money laundering services openly who talk about the types of scams they allow to receive.”

Meanwhile, as the business increases, researchers say that the owner of the platform, Huione Group, has worked to reduce its interaction with the market and the connection between Huione Guarantee and other related services, such as Huione Pay. The market has been renamed “Haowang Guarantee,” although the Huione Group assured investigators that Huione Guarantee is still “a partner and shareholder.”

Jason Tower, who is the head of Myanmar at the United States Institute of Peace, said: “The Huione Guarantee group on Telegram is still widely used, and more than 139,000 people use it. “Telegram groups are used to move large amounts of crypto at a very low price. In comparison, competing platforms have lost a lot of users. This is probably the result of distractions and the Chinese government.”

Robinson says that an initial analysis from Elliptic found about $6 billion through a single Telegram bot that it says is “used primarily for online gambling on Huione Guarantee.” The investigators’ research shows that this may be related to money laundering. Users deposit crypto into a wallet and then can move their money into micro-games that live in their Telegram groups. “Games” are limited, however, and don’t seem to have any skill. Players also like to bet for a longer period of time, bet equal amounts, and leave a certain amount of time between their bets. All of this “combined to show that gambling is more about making money than having fun,” says Robinson.

While the Huione Guarantee strategy seems too big to fail, Elliptic analysts say the platform is not self-sustaining. So far, Huione’s stablecoin and cryptocurrency exchange have failed to register large volumes, Robinson says, despite some promotion within its communications channels. As the market works to force change, its continued dependence on third parties may remain fragile – at least for now.

“Huione’s authentication still relies on other middleware, Tether and Telegraph,” says Robinson. “I think there’s an opportunity now to block it through the service providers. I think the longer we wait, the more likely they are to move to their more complex products.”