The apparent shutdown follows years of scrutiny of one of crypto’s largest fraud marketplaces.
A Telegram-based escrow service linked to an illicit online marketplace appears to be winding down operations after refunding more than $130 million in stablecoins, a move that analysts say may disrupt a major hub for crypto-related scams.
Tudou Guarantee, a service linked to the Huione Group, has apparently refunded $130 million in Tether USDt (USDT) to the group’s public merchants since the beginning of 2026, according to data shared by blockchain analytics company Bitrace. Refunds began with about $3.7 million on Jan. 1 and peaked at about $18.1 million on Sunday, Bitrace said.
Earlier on Friday, the company seemingly announced the shuttering of operations through its Telegram channel, according to screenshots shared by Bitrace.
Huione Group is a Cambodia-based financial conglomerate that operates payment service Huione Pay and crypto exchange Huione Crypto, along with Huione Guarantee.
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The development may lead to a slowdown in phishing and pig butchering scams, which were previously offered as a service by hundreds of vendors on the marketplace.
In December, an investor lost their entire Bitcoin (BTC) retirement fund in an artificial intelligence-fueled romance scam, where the con artists used prolonged emotional manipulation to convince the investors to transfer their funds.
Phishing scams became the second-largest threat after supply-chain breaches, costing crypto investors a cumulative $722 million across 248 incidents in 2025, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.
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Elliptic previously uncovered thousands of wallet addresses associated with Tudou Guarantee’s vendors and operations to help users steer clear of this entity.
The blockchain security company also flagged $89 billion in crypto received by these illicit wallets, according to a report published in January 2025.
Tudou Guarantee totaled at least $24 billion in transactions, increasingly relying on its cryptocurrency infrastructure.
In September 2024, the marketplace launched a US dollar-based stablecoin as its latest crypto endeavour, after launching a blockchain, crypto exchange and messaging app.
Tudou Guarantee was rebranded from Huione Guarantee after Elliptic exposed it as a multi-billion-dollar marketplace for online fraudsters in July 2024.
