Tom Robinson

A huge marketplace for online scammers, with links to the ruling family of Cambodia - check out this 90-second summary of our recent research

@swapzilla_io @HTX_Global quite a lot

@tomrobin @HTX_Global How much impact can sanctions realistically have on global crypto exchanges?

HTX has been sanctioned by the UK @HTX_Global

Russia-related: …arch-uk-sanctions-list.service.gov.uk/designations/R…

Vast Telegram-based guarantee marketplaces are key enablers of online scams. They rely on stablecoins for money laundering totalling hundreds of billions of dollars. In a new article for @RUSI_org (link below) I call on @telegram and @tether to step up and do more to combat this.

@durov Great job Pavel, now how about shutting down the $21B sanctioned fraud marketplace that you host? The one that enables money laundering, human trafficking and scams - and causes untold misery for millions globally. Or would that be bad for business? wired.com/story/telegram…

Group admins can assign tags to users — or embrace the chaos and let them assign their own.

@elliptic @telegram @WIRED Telegram has taken action! By banning UK @telegram users from accessing Xinbi... 😕 So probably the bare minimum they think they need to do to comply with the UK sanction, while doing nothing to address the underlying issue...

It's 3 weeks since Xinbi was sanctioned. @Elliptic data shows that the scammer's marketplace has now facilitated over $21Bn in transactions. Meanwhile @telegram, which could shut it down with the press of a button, continues to turn a blind eye... wired.com/story/telegram… @WIRED

Crypto outflows from Iran spiked 700% in the minutes following the first airstrike. Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, also saw withdrawals surge on 16th and 30th January - days on which the U.S. announced new sanctions against regime officials. elliptic.co/blog/iranian-c…

Were seeing increased use of crypto for sanctions evasion by Iran, Russia, NK. Please DM me if you have any tips/intel relating to this topic.

New research: Iran’s Central Bank has purchased US dollar stablecoins worth at least half a billion dollars, likely used to evade sanctions and support the rial elliptic.co/blog/iran-has-…

1/8 I was taking a look at this research from @elliptic and noticed something interesting. It seems that the same entity who is selling USDT to the Central Bank of Iran 🇮🇷 is also buying USDT from groups laundering on behalf of DPRK 🇰🇵

@Pnlpal Read more about it here in this piece by @elliptic elliptic.co/blog/cyber-sca…

New crypto sanctions on the eve of the Trump/Putin talks - targeting Russian use of stablecoins for sanctions evasion. Including: A7/Old Vector (issuers of A7A5 Ruble stablecoin), Exved (cross-border payments with USDT) and Grinex (Garantex successor) elliptic.co/blog/ofac-targ…

$90 million stolen from Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex and burned by pro-Israel hacker group elliptic.co/blog/iranian-c…

In the mean time, Elliptic's data and the transparency of cryptoassets produced insights have led directly to the two largest illicit marketplaces of all time to being shut down. This is a major victory for anyone who has been targeted by online scams.

What next for online criminal markets? Xinbi and Huione thought Telegram was a safe home. This turned out not to be true, and may spur the development of decentralised, censorship-resistant comms - alongside the censorship-resistant payments of crypto. elliptic.co/blog/elliptic-…

@telegram x.com/tomrobin/statu…

@telegram This action comes after new Elliptic research (to be published tomorrow) was presented to @telegram. At last, concerted action against these hubs of the cyberscam economy. Huione Guarantee may yet return but this is a significant blow, which will be difficult to recover from...

@telegram has finally taken action against Huione Guarantee, the largest online criminal marketplace to have ever existed! Many of the central channels of the $27 billion scammer's marketplace have been deleted, and the associated usernames have been banned...

In response to this research, Telegram yesterday shut down both Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee, the two largest Telegram-based illicit markets, which engaged in over $35 billion in USDT transactions in total. @elliptic continues to track over 30 similar marketplaces.

But it doesn't stop there - some of its merchants engage in sex trafficking (with victims as young as 14), offer stalking-as-a-service and even provide access to child-bearing surrogates and egg donors. On top of this, Xinbi claims to operate through a U.S. business...

Huione Guarantee was just the tip of the iceberg - today Elliptic exposes Xinbi Guarantee: another huge, multi-billion dollar marketplace for online scammers... elliptic.co/blog/xinbi-gua…