Crypto’s Dark Underbelly: How Xinbi’s $18 Billion Laundering Empire Thrives Despite Global Crackdowns

In a stunning revelation that exposes the resilience of crypto-enabled crime networks, blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs has uncovered how Chinese-language crypto guarantee marketplace Xinbi has processed nearly $18 billion in onchain transaction volume—all while operating under the radar of international law enforcement.

The numbers are staggering. Despite platform bans, Telegram purges, and aggressive U.S. enforcement actions designed to dismantle similar services, Xinbi has not only survived but evolved, creating what TRM Labs describes as “a hydra-headed laundering infrastructure” that adapts faster than authorities can shut it down.

The Anatomy of a Digital Crime Machine

At its core, Xinbi operates as a crypto guarantee service—essentially an escrow system that sits between buyers and sellers in illicit transactions. But according to TRM’s comprehensive analysis, this isn’t just any marketplace. It’s become the central nervous system of Southeast Asia’s scam economy, processing transactions for everything from pig-butchering fraud schemes to cybercrime syndicates dealing in stolen data and money laundering services.

The platform’s sophistication is what makes it particularly dangerous. When Telegram began cracking down on Chinese-language guarantee services in 2025, Xinbi didn’t fold—it pivoted. The service rapidly migrated to alternative messaging platforms and launched its own dedicated wallet solution, XinbiPay, creating an end-to-end ecosystem that’s increasingly difficult to disrupt.

A $17.9 Billion Laundering Pipeline

TRM’s report reveals that the $17.9 billion figure represents gross onchain transaction volume processed through wallets attributed to Xinbi. This includes not just simple inflows and outflows, but the complex internal transfers that characterize guarantee services—essentially the movement of funds through escrow systems as part of legitimate-looking transactions that mask their true criminal purpose.

What makes this particularly concerning is that this figure doesn’t even represent the net proceeds of criminal activity. As TRM notes, guarantee services typically engage in internal recycling of funds—moving money in circles to create false transaction trails that confuse investigators and obscure the true flow of illicit capital.

The Pig-Butchering Connection

Among Xinbi’s most notorious clients are operators of pig-butchering scams—elaborate romance and investment fraud schemes that have become increasingly prevalent in Southeast Asia. These operations typically target vulnerable individuals, building trust over months before convincing victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms, often resulting in devastating financial losses.

Xinbi’s role in these schemes is crucial. The platform provides the laundering infrastructure that allows scammers to convert stolen funds into legitimate-looking cryptocurrency transactions, making it exponentially harder for victims to recover their money and for law enforcement to trace the criminal networks.

Adaptation as Survival Strategy

“The key insight here is adaptation,” explains Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs. “Guarantee services like Xinbi are learning to survive enforcement by fragmenting across platforms and building their own infrastructure.”

This fragmentation strategy has proven remarkably effective. As pressure mounted on Telegram-based operations, Xinbi had already established alternative communication channels and was preparing the launch of XinbiPay. When the crackdown intensified in January 2026, coinciding with additional actions against peer services and arrests tied to laundering networks, Xinbi’s user base simply migrated to the new infrastructure.

The timing wasn’t coincidental. TRM’s analysis shows that wallet activity began rebounding in January 2026 as users transitioned to the new setup, suggesting careful planning and coordination within the criminal ecosystem.

A History of Billion-Dollar Operations

Xinbi’s current operations represent the evolution of a service that has been under scrutiny since at least 2025. In May of that year, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that wallets linked to Xinbi Guarantee had received at least $8.4 billion in stablecoins, tied to money laundering and scam-related activity across Southeast Asia.

The earlier report painted a picture of a Chinese-language, Telegram-based marketplace selling not just money laundering services, but also stolen data, scam-enabling tools, and other illicit offerings. What’s changed since then isn’t the nature of Xinbi’s operations, but rather its sophistication and resilience.

The Broader Implications

The persistence of services like Xinbi raises fundamental questions about the effectiveness of current cryptocurrency regulation and enforcement strategies. While authorities have celebrated various takedowns and arrests, the underlying infrastructure continues to evolve and adapt, often outpacing regulatory responses.

This creates a dangerous feedback loop. As enforcement actions become more aggressive, services like Xinbi become more sophisticated in their evasion techniques. They build their own infrastructure, fragment across multiple platforms, and create redundant systems that ensure continuity even when individual components are disrupted.

The Human Cost

Behind the billions in transaction volume and the technical sophistication of these operations lies a very human tragedy. Pig-butchering scams alone have defrauded thousands of victims out of their life savings, with many losing everything they own. The laundering services that Xinbi provides don’t just facilitate these crimes—they make them profitable enough to sustain large-scale criminal operations.

Moreover, the interconnected nature of these services means that disrupting one component often has ripple effects throughout the criminal ecosystem. As Redbord notes, “taking them out of the laundering chain exposes entire networks that depend on them,” potentially creating opportunities for broader enforcement actions.

Looking Forward

The Xinbi case study represents both a warning and a challenge for the cryptocurrency industry and law enforcement alike. It demonstrates that while blockchain technology offers unprecedented transparency, determined criminals can still exploit its features to build massive, resilient laundering operations.

As the crypto industry continues to mature, the battle between enforcement agencies and adaptive criminal services like Xinbi will likely intensify. The question isn’t whether these services can be completely eliminated—history suggests that determined criminals will always find ways to exploit new technologies—but rather how the industry and regulators can stay ahead of the curve in protecting users and maintaining the integrity of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

For now, Xinbi’s $18 billion operation stands as a stark reminder that in the digital age, crime doesn’t just pay—it innovates, adapts, and evolves faster than many of the systems designed to stop it.

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