March 27, 2026

UK Becomes First Country to Sanction Xinbi, One of Southeast Asia's Largest Illicit Crypto Marketplaces

TRM Team

UK Becomes First Country to Sanction Xinbi, One of Southeast Asia's Largest Illicit Crypto Marketplaces

Key takeaways

The UK became the first country to sanction Xinbi on March 26, 2026, targeting one of the largest illicit crypto marketplaces in Southeast Asia, which TRM data shows has processed USD 24.2 billion in total transaction volume since 2022
The action also sanctions Legend Innovation Co. and its director Eang Soklim as operator of scam compound #8 Park, alongside two associates of Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi
Xinbi had already begun migrating operations to SafeW, a proprietary messaging platform, and NewPay, also known as XinbiPay, a no-KYC crypto wallet, which could keep the platform functioning – simply on alternate infrastructure – despite regulatory action
Xinbi has already demonstrated resilience to enforcement action — its daily inflows nearly doubled in the months following its Telegram ban in May 2025 — surviving when its peers Haowang, Huione, and Tudou did not, with their volumes falling by nearly 100%
BYEX, another crypto platform used to launder scam proceeds, shut down following UK sanctions last year — showing that cutting a platform from the legitimate crypto ecosystem can have the intended impact

Xinbi sanctioned as UK targets scam center crypto infrastructure

On March 26, 2026, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCD) sanctioned Xinbi, a Chinese-language online marketplace that has processed USD 24.2 billion in total transaction volume and functions as a critical financial layer for scam centers across Southeast Asia. The UK is the first country to sanction the platform. The action also targeted Legend Innovation Co. and its director Eang Soklim as operator of #8 Park — described as Cambodia's largest scam compound; Thet Li, a key lieutenant of Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi who has managed the Prince Group's international financial network, including in Taiwan; and Hu Xiaowei, a long-term associate of Zhi operating under three different aliases.

The sanctions are part of the UK's broader campaign against scam center infrastructure in Southeast Asia — operations that rely on trafficked foreign nationals, often lured under the pretense of legitimate employment, to carry out online fraud at industrial scale. Victims include British nationals targeted through schemes such as pig butchering, where fraudsters cultivate fake romantic or investment relationships before stealing from their targets.

Prior migration to SafeW and NewPay may enable the platform to survive sanctions

Xinbi had also been actively preparing for additional enforcement before today's action – preparations that may blunt the impact of these new sanctions. The platform began promoting SafeW in June 2025— a secure messaging application developed by SafeW Technology Co., Ltd. — as an alternative to its operations on Telegram, and simultaneously launched NewPay (also referred to as XinbiPay wallet), a no-KYC cryptocurrency payment application supporting USDT transactions across TRC20, ERC20, BEP20, and other blockchains. Neither SafeW nor NewPay were included in the UK sanctions package.

NewPay’s withdrawal hot wallet processed over USD 94.6 million in total inflows within its first month of activation in December 2025. Currently, this hot wallet has approximately USD 250 million in inflow volume and the total volume is almost USD 500 million.

User migration to SafeW accelerated in January 2026, coinciding with the closure of Tudou Guarantee and the arrest of Chen Zhi. As of March 2026, Xinbi's Telegram escrow service retained approximately 435,690 subscribers, and the SafeW escrow service has grown to over 20,909 subscribers. This approach of distributing operations across proprietary systems to reduce dependency on any single communication channel may enable Xinbi to continue their operations despite sanctions – much like it previously survived a Telegram crackdown.

Xinbi survived the Telegram crackdown — and grew

In spring 2025, FinCEN issued a Section 311 finding targeting Huione Guarantee and Haowang Guarantee — the first major US enforcement action specifically focused on Chinese-language guarantee marketplaces. After the Section 311 finding, Telegram banned large channel clusters linked to Haowang and Xinbi. Following the ban, Huione and Haowang saw volumes fall by nearly 100%, and Tudou Guarantee declined by approximately 74% before shutting down entirely.

Xinbi, however, not only survived, but expanded. Between May 12, 2025 — one day before its Telegram removal — and December 22, 2025, Xinbi's daily inflows nearly doubled. The platform absorbed a growing share of ecosystem volume as competitors declined. TRM analysis shows that as Huione-linked services receded, Xinbi and a group of smaller guarantee services filled the gap — demonstrating how enforcement reshaped the landscape by driving consolidation around more resilient operators rather than dismantling the guarantee service model itself.

What are guarantee services like Xinbi, and how do they operate?

Xinbi is a Chinese-language guarantee marketplace that emerged on Telegram around 2022 and has since established itself as one of the most consequential illicit service platforms in the crypto ecosystem. TRM analysis estimates that Xinbi has processed USD 24.2 billion in total transaction volume — with USD 12.1 billion in observed inflows since May 2025 alone — serving as a central facilitator for scam operations, money laundering networks, and cybercrime syndicates across Southeast Asia. Xinbi likely operates from the Golden Triangle region spanning Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos.

Guarantee services like Xinbi occupy a distinctive position in illicit finance. They function simultaneously as informal escrow providers, marketplaces connecting buyers and sellers of illicit services, and coordination hubs for money mule networks. By offering transaction assurance with minimal due diligence, they lower the barrier to entry for financial crime. Xinbi's listings have included stolen personal data sales, fake identification documents, AI deepfake tooling, satellite internet equipment used to contact scam victims, and Chinese-language over-the-counter cryptocurrency exchanges — a breadth of services that makes the platform a comprehensive resource for scam center operators.

The track record of disruption through sanctions

The UK's prior use of financial sanctions against crypto infrastructure has demonstrated measurable impact. Following UK sanctions on BYEX — another cryptocurrency platform used to launder scam proceeds — it shut down entirely. Today's announcement cites that precedent explicitly, noting that the UK's sanctions will isolate Xinbi from the legitimate crypto ecosystem and significantly disrupt its ability to send and receive cryptocurrency transactions.

The broader campaign has also produced regional effects. Following 2025 UK and US sanctions against the Prince Group and Chen Zhi, Cambodia launched its largest ever crackdown on the scam economy. Cambodian authorities estimate that 2,500 sites have been raided, hundreds of scam centers closed, and tens of thousands of foreign nationals released. Today's action extends that campaign to the crypto marketplace infrastructure enabling the next generation of scam center operations, targeting both #8 Park and the platform that services it.

Implications for compliance teams and VASPs

For virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and compliance teams, Xinbi's designation introduces direct exposure considerations. Any platform processing transactions linked to Xinbi wallets, XinbiPay infrastructure, or associated addresses now faces potential sanctions violation risk under UK law, with extraterritorial implications for institutions operating in or connected to UK markets.

The XinbiPay wallet architecture — which internalizes transaction flows with no meaningful KYC requirements — creates a tracing challenge that mirrors the risks TRM has documented across guarantee service ecosystems and centralized services more broadly. When funds move through guarantee-managed wallets, the visible transaction trail reflects the service's own infrastructure rather than the individual actors behind it, requiring analysis of the platform's on-chain architecture to identify consolidation points and exit paths. When vendors use external wallet addresses not controlled by the guarantee service, tracing is more straightforward. Removing facilitators like Xinbi from the laundering ecosystem significantly improves investigators' ability to trace funds and attribute activity.

The designation also signals continued UK intent to use financial sanctions as an active tool against crypto-enabled illicit finance ahead of the UK's Illicit Finance Summit in June. For compliance teams, the pattern is consistent: guarantee services that facilitate scam center operations are increasingly within scope of coordinated international enforcement.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. What is Xinbi Guarantee?

Xinbi is a Chinese-language guarantee service that has operated since 2022 as an informal escrow provider, marketplace, and wallet service for illicit actors across Southeast Asia. TRM analysis estimates it has processed USD 24.2 billion in total transaction volume. The UK sanctioned the platform on March 26, 2026 — the first government to do so.

2. What did the UK sanction on March 26, 2026?

The UK sanctioned five entities and individuals: Xinbi; Legend Innovation Co. (operator of #8 Park); Eang Soklim (director of Legend Innovation Co.); Thet Li (key lieutenant of Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi); and Hu Xiaowei (long-term associate of Zhi operating under multiple aliases).

3. What is #8 Park?

#8 Park is described in UK sanctions documentation as Cambodia's largest scam compound, linked to the Prince Group and with capacity to accommodate 20,000 trafficked workers. It is operated by Legend Innovation Co., which was sanctioned alongside Xinbi today.

4. Why is the UK the first country to sanction Xinbi?

While Telegram banned Xinbi's channel clusters in spring 2025 alongside those of other guarantee services, no government had previously issued a formal sanctions designation specifically targeting the platform. Today's UK action is the first government-level designation of Xinbi.

5. What is XinbiPay?

XinbiPay is a no-KYC cryptocurrency wallet service associated with Xinbi Guarantee, available on the Apple App Store as NewPay. It supports USDT transactions across TRC20, ERC20, BEP20, and other blockchains. Its withdrawal hot wallet processed over USD 94.6 million within its first month of activation in December 2025.

6. What is SafeW?

SafeW is a secure messaging application that Xinbi began promoting in June 2025 as an alternative to Telegram. As of January 2026, Xinbi's SafeW escrow service had grown to over 20,909 subscribers. Its adoption illustrates how guarantee services are diversifying infrastructure to reduce vulnerability to future platform-level enforcement.

7. How does this action connect to previous Prince Group sanctions?

The UK and US sanctioned Prince Group and its chairman Chen Zhi in 2025, triggering over £1 billion in asset freezes and seizures and prompting Cambodia's largest ever crackdown on the scam economy. Today's action targets two of Zhi's associates — Thet Li and Hu Xiaowei — and expands the campaign to include the crypto marketplace infrastructure serving scam centers connected to the Prince Group network.

8. What role has North Korea played in the Xinbi ecosystem?

UK sanctions documentation states that Xinbi has facilitated the laundering of stolen crypto assets by North Korea. This adds a sanctions evasion and national security dimension alongside the platform's more extensively documented role in Southeast Asian scam center financing.

9. What happened to BYEX, and does it suggest what might happen to Xinbi?

BYEX, another cryptocurrency platform used to launder scam proceeds, shut down following UK sanctions in 2025. The UK government's announcement of today's action cites this outcome explicitly, noting that sanctions will isolate Xinbi from the legitimate crypto ecosystem and significantly disrupt its operations.

10. What should VASPs and compliance teams do?

Any platform processing transactions connected to Xinbi wallets, XinbiPay infrastructure, or associated entities now faces sanctions violation risk under UK law. Compliance teams should screen against today's designations, review any transaction histories intersecting with Xinbi's on-chain footprint, and assess their broader exposure to guarantee service infrastructure.