A huge Chinese darknet marketplace called Haowang Guarantee has been closed by Telegram. The platform has long been suspected of being a hub for crypto scams and fraud. Formerly called Huione Guarantee, the platform said it will shut down after Telegram banned thousands of associated accounts on May 13th, 2025.
“Telegrame were blocked all of our NFT, Channels and group on May 13th 2025, Haowang Grarantee will cease operation from now,” said the notice on the marketplace website.
According to blockchain security firm Elliptic, the marketplace hosted around $27 billion in illicit transactions on its platform, mostly in the form of the Tether stablecoin. Researchers in Elliptic also found out that the Huione Group of companies was responsible for $98 billion in crypto transactions, as reported by Cointelegraph.
Haowang Guarantee was alleged to be a platform for money laundering, siphoning of personal data, and pig butchering scams.
“This is a huge win. The largest dark-net marketplace to have ever existed has been shut down,” said Elliptic cofounder Tom Robinson.
“It’s a game changer in terms of overall online criminal markets, and it’s huge for victims of online fraud. This marketplace was a key enabler of the global scam epidemic, and I think this will put a real dent in the ability of online scammers to do what they do.”