Colorado Firm Linked to $8.4B Cryptocurrency Laundering Marketplace

A Colorado-incorporated firm has been linked to an illicit marketplace that has facilitated billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions. The marketplace, known as Xinbi Guarantee, has received $8.4 billion, primarily in Tether (USDT) stablecoin transactions, according to a report by blockchain security firm Elliptic on May 13.

Xinbi Guarantee operates as a Chinese-language, Telegram-based platform that offers a range of illicit services, including technology, personal data, and money laundering services. These services are primarily used by scammers in Southeast Asia who target victims through pig butchering scams.

On its website, Xinbi Guarantee describes itself as an “investment and capital guarantee group company” and claims to operate through Xinbi Co. Ltd, a company incorporated in Colorado in 2022. However, the corporation was updated to ‘Delinquent’ in January 2025 for failing to file a periodic report.

The key services offered on the black marketplace include money laundering, which is the largest category, as well as technology such as Starlink equipment for scammers, stolen personal data for targeting victims, and fake IDs and other fraudulent documents.

Xinbi Guarantee is the second-largest illicit online marketplace discovered so far, with transaction volumes growing rapidly. In the fourth quarter of 2024, over $1 billion was transacted on the platform, and there is evidence linking it to North Korean hackers laundering stolen funds.

Elliptic identified thousands of crypto addresses used by Xinbi Guarantee and the merchants on it, stating that the $8.4 billion in transactions should be considered as lower bounds of the true volume of transactions on the platform. The platform has 233,000 users and operates on a “guarantee model,” requiring vendor deposits to prevent fraud.

In July 2024, Elliptic exposed a similar Telegram-based Chinese marketplace known as Huione Guarantee. The firm found that the wider Huione Group of companies had facilitated over $98 billion in crypto transactions. In early May, it was designated by the US Treasury as a money-laundering operation and was to be severed from the US banking system.

These platforms provide a window into a China-based underground banking system, based around stablecoins and other digital payments, which is being leveraged for money laundering on a significant scale.