Stablecoin for cyber-scammers launches, Sony L2 drama: Asia Express

A stablecoin for pig-butchering scammers

Telegram-based illicit marketplace Huione Guarantee has launched its own stablecoin, USDH, according to security firm Elliptic.

The platform allegedly operates under the Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group and plays a central role in enabling pig butchering scams, which exploit trust and relationships (often romantic) to defraud victims. Hundreds of vendors on Huione Guarantee offer illicit goods and services, including the laundering of pig-butchering proceeds.

Elliptic calls it the largest illicit online marketplace ever, with transactions totaling $24 billion. Chainalysis claims to have tracked even a higher volume of transactions north of $49 billion.

Huione Guarantee and its users have heavily relied on Tether’s USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization. But USDT comes with a feature that allows Tether to freeze blacklisted accounts, a safeguard that has been increasingly utilized in combating illicit activities.

Elliptic suspects that such asset freezes may have partly motivated Huione Guarantee’s decision to launch its own dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.

Huione Guarantee vendors offer to launder pig-butchering proceeds. (Elliptic)

Pig butchering scams are one of the most widely circulating scams, according to blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis. A University of Texas study estimates that over $75 billion has been stolen through such schemes.

These scams often rely on trafficked and kidnapped individuals who are forced to act out the scams. Victims-turned-perpetrators are imprisoned in compounds and exploited to target others. Some of these compounds have been linked to politicians in Southeast Asia.

In Cambodia, award-winning journalist Mech Dara was arrested last year, which human rights activists claim was due to his exposure to crypto scam hubs and their alleged links to Senator Ly Yong Phat.

Phat, a leading member of…

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