Google delists Huione app after Elliptic report

Google removed Huione’s mobile app from its Play Store following reports of criminal activity on the platform.

Huione Guarantee, described by Elliptic as the biggest illicit marketplace ever, was delisted from the Google Play Store amid allegations of money laundering and illegal operations. However, the app remains available on the Apple iOS App Store.

Huione Guarantee is a Telegram-based trading venue notorious for being used by bad actors in Southeast Asia. According to crypto research firm Elliptic, the marketplace regularly facilitates activities for cybercriminals and hackers.

Elliptic stated that Huione hosts thousands of ads promoting large-scale illicit practices, including money laundering and the sale of compromised personal data.

Additionally, the research report highlighted that vendors on the platform offer physical tools and training to execute fraud and scams. The marketplace reportedly had approximately 900,000 users as of Jan. 14 and recently launched its stablecoin, called USDH.

The launch of its stablecoin appears to have been a response to Tether’s freezing of a Huione (USDT) account linked to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus in July.

On-chain analytics startup Bitrace flagged 29.62 million USDT in locked tokens attributed to Huione Pay, an affiliate of the Cambodian firm. Around the same time, Elliptic described the marketplace as a “hub for crypto scammers” and “the largest online illicit marketplace to have ever operated.”

Following Elliptic’s latest publication, Huione Guarantee rebranded itself as Haowang Guarantee, likely in an attempt to cover its tracks and avoid further media scrutiny.

The entity hosts its own blockchain called Huione Chain, with its USDH stablecoin available on Ethereum (ETH), BNB Chain (BNB), and Tron (TRX) networks. Notably, the stablecoin shares a name with another fiat-pegged token operated by Hubble, a Solana-powered protocol.