The UK imposes sanctions on a $20 billion cryptocurrency market linked to scam centers

Goods offered on Xinbi included stolen personal data, money laundering tools, and satellite equipment to contact fraud victims.

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has imposed sanctions on Chinese-language cryptocurrency market Xinbi, which blockchain analytics firm Chainasis says processed nearly $20 billion in volume between 2021 and 2025.

This designation means that the UK government is targeting not just individual fraudsters, but the financial infrastructure that keeps industrial-scale scams going in Southeast Asia.

The role of the platform in supply chain fraud

According to Chainalogy, Xinbi is a peer-to-peer marketplace, mostly on Telegram, where criminals can… He buys and selling illegal goods and services with built-in warranty protections. Think of it like an online marketplace, except that sellers aren’t selling consumer goods. They sell stolen personal data, money laundering services, fraud software, and even satellite Internet equipment used to contact fraud victims.

Along with Xinbi, the Foreign Office also imposed sanctions on Legend Innovation, the operator of #8 Park, which the UK government described as the largest fraud facility in Cambodia with the capacity to accommodate 20,000 trafficked workers, as well as two people linked to the Prince Group: Thet Li, described as a key financial lieutenant, and Hu Xiaowei, who is alleged to be operating under three different aliases.

According to data provided by Chainalysis, the platform processed about $19.9 billion in cryptocurrency flows over four years and was closely linked to other illicit services such as escrow platforms Huione and Tudou. Furthermore, the company stated that Xinbi was actively facilitating scams by giving criminals tutorials and chatbots to help them manipulate victims.

This is not the first time the network has been targeted, as authorities pushed Telegram to shut down its cryptocurrency escrow market channels in 2025. However, this action did little to stop it, as it quickly established new communication channels and ensured access to its website. Even on-chain data showed that the transaction volume on the platform did not decrease during the takedown procedure in Telegram.

Cryptocurrency laundering networks represent a growing threat

Earlier in the year, CryptoPotato I mentioned about how collateral markets like Xinbei sender Millions to major cryptocurrency exchanges, the money comes from online gambling, scams and widespread money laundering. One of the largest such companies is said to be the Huione Group processed Transactions worth more than $24 billion before it was closed in the middle of last year.

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The US State Department’s sanctions on Xinbi highlight growing attempts to combat cryptocurrency-based fraud by directly targeting the bars and markets that support it. The agency’s designation came as part of a global human rights operation, where Shinpei was accused of supporting entities that engage in torture and other human rights violations within fraud centers.

Aside from targeted designations, the UK uses several other measures to try to prevent criminals from moving around, cashing out and spending stolen digital assets, including regulations and close law enforcement cooperation. Among these joint actions are UK agencies cooperating with US authorities, including OFAC and FinCEN, to close Huione Group and opened a $15 billion civil forfeiture case against it.