Huione, a Telegram-based illicit marketplace that offers personal data and money laundering services, has deployed its own stablecoin, according to a report from blockchain security firm Elliptic.
The stablecoin (USDH) was created to “avoid the common freeze and transfer restrictions of traditional digital currencies.” The Huione website adds that “USDH is not restricted by traditional regulatory agencies.”
Before the launch of USDH, Huione users used Tether (USDT) almost exclusively. Tether froze one of Huione Pay’s accounts in July 2024 after a wallet received funds linked to a theft attributed to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
The company also launched its own chat service to make it less dependent on third-party apps like Telegram.
The report claims that Huione facilitated transactions worth $24 billion, including much of the funds used in the notorious pig butchery scams. It is a Chinese-speaking market and linked to the Huione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate.
An elliptical search found that “thousands of providers” offer “money laundering services, stolen personal data, technology and other elements necessary for industrial-scale online fraud.” The investigation also led to the discovery of electrical chains intended for victims of human trafficking.
One of the money laundering services claims to represent and operate from the Golden Fortune Science and Technology Park, a labor camp that forces Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese nationals to commit cyber scams.
