Huione Pay's Collapse: Unraveling a Gray-Black Financial Network

The Fall of Huione Pay: A Look into a Gray-Black Financial Network

On December 1, 2025, Huione Pay announced the suspension of its operations. This wasn't merely a payment company going bankrupt; it signified the collapse of a complex gray-black financial network spanning payments, black market guarantees, and crypto stablecoins, all under the weight of international sanctions and regulatory scrutiny. At the heart of this network lies the Huione Group.

Huione's Demise: A Countdown to Collapse

Huione was once hailed as the "AliPay of Cambodia," the largest third-party financial system in Southeast Asia's gray market and a clandestine leader in USDT payments. Its downfall was not sudden but a predetermined countdown. As early as March, local financial institutions revoked Huione's license, stripping it of its legal status. In May, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule under Section 311 of the Patriot Act, designating the Huione Group as a "Significant Money Laundering Risk Institution," effectively severing its ties to the U.S. financial system. In October, the U.S. Treasury Department and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) jointly launched the largest coordinated sanctions package in history, re-designating Huione as a "Primary Money Laundering Concern," accusing it of facilitating at least $4 billion in illicit fund flows. By this point, Huione's fate was sealed.

The Huione Group's Covert Network

Huione Currency Exchange (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., established in 2014, was the predecessor to the Huione Group. After a decade of expansion, it evolved into a large financial conglomerate. Multiple investigations revealed intersections and overlaps in its cash flows with the business network of Cambodia's "Prince Chen Zhi," embedding a deep gray background from the outset. By 2024, Huione Pay, Huione Guarantee, and Huione Crypto under the Huione Group had formed a complete money laundering industrial chain, each playing a distinct role, creating a closed loop.

Huione Pay: A Front-End Channel for Gray and Black Money

As the core front-end tool of the Huione Group, Huione Pay performs functions such as cross-border payments, crypto stablecoin deposits and withdrawals, over-the-counter trading facilitation, merchant payment collection, and a clandestine foreign exchange portal. On the surface, it is the "AliPay of Cambodia," but in secret, it is deeply embedded in Southeast Asia's gray-black industry chain. According to blockchain security firm SlowMist, Huione Pay processed over $50 billion in total USDT deposits and withdrawals on the TRON chain from January 1, 2024, to June 23, 2025. Active deposit addresses surged from less than 30,000 to over 80,000, and daily withdrawal transactions peaked at nearly 150,000. In July 2024, Tether froze 29.62 million USDT associated with its addresses. Although the platform later claimed to have "strengthened KYC," illegal transactions continued to emerge.

Huione Crypto: Amplifying Regulatory Loopholes

Huione Crypto's business allows users to directly deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies such as USDT, making it a preferred channel for the gray-black industry. Notably, in September 2024, Huione launched its own stablecoin, USDH, claiming it was "unfreezable" and not subject to traditional regulations, pegged to the U.S. dollar at 1:1, and supporting ETH, TRON, BSC, and its own Huione Chain networks, aiming to avoid asset freezing mechanisms like USDT. This meant that a "risk-free channel" tailored for illicit funds had been officially opened. According to Elliptic data, the Huione Crypto platform has processed billions of dollars' worth of suspicious transactions.

Huione Guarantee: Telegram's Black Market Credit Machine

If payments and crypto are channels, then Huione Guarantee is the "credit core" of gray-black transactions. Huione Guarantee has long relied on Telegram to provide intermediary guarantee services for black market transactions, covering all types of illegal transactions from telecommunications fraud services to money laundering, stolen credit cards, and data transactions. The platform not only facilitates transactions but also provides "fund management" and "dispute resolution" to ensure illegal transactions are completed smoothly. Public investigations revealed that as of 2021, the total value of black market transactions mediated by Huione Guarantee exceeded $27 billion, with the main beneficiaries being telecommunications fraud and cybercrime. In May 2025, following an Elliptic report, Telegram blocked thousands of accounts, and the platform subsequently shut down. However, the guarantee market was quickly taken over by new forces such as "Tudou Guarantee," and gray transactions did not disappear.

A Startling Bill

According to a FinCEN investigation, the Huione Group as a whole processed over $50 billion in transactions since 2021, with at least $4 billion linked to illicit activities: $37 million originated from cryptocurrencies stolen by North Korean hackers (such as the Lazarus Group), $36 million from "Pig Butchering" investment fraud schemes, and $300 million involved in other online scams. Elliptic's estimates are even more alarming, estimating the total value of related illegal crypto transactions at approximately $98 billion.

The collapse of Huione Pay is not just the bankruptcy of a "payment company"; it is a wake-up call for the Web3 industry. Technology itself is neither good nor bad; the key is how to fill regulatory gaps and create a more compliant, secure, and transparent financial system. Only by strengthening regulation and guiding the healthy development of technology can we avoid large-scale financial disasters like "Huione Pay".