Every now and then, we come across incidents of crypto crimes and the sanctions that follow. Recently, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the UK announced final sanctions of the Chinese-language crypto marketplace Xinbi, connected with global online fraud and money-laundering networks.
Xinbi processed billions over the past years: Chanalysis
Blockchain analysis platform Chainalysis pointed out that Xinbi processed over $20 billion in transactions between 2021 and 2025. And, most of these amounts are entangled in illicit crimes like money laundering, unlicensed over‑the‑counter (OTC) trades, and more.
Xinbi is not an average crypto exchange; instead, it allegedly operates like an underground guarantee marketplace, managing the ordinary buying and selling of digital assets. Independent vendors provide unlicensed OTC deals, escrow-style services, and other mechanisms that open gates for cybercriminals to move, wash, and hide funds extracted from fraud.
According to Chainalysis: “The platform facilitates everything from ‘Black U’ money laundering and unlicensed OTC trades to the sale of compromised personal databases and scam infrastructure.”
Although Xinbi is not based in the UK, the authorities are sanctioning it because of what it does and who it impacts. Victims of their scams are also from the UK, Europe, the US, and elsewhere.
Pig butchering, forced labour tied to Xinbi
The FCOD highlighted the sanctioned platform’s tie with #8 Park, an industrial-scale scam compound in Cambodia. Importantly, these services are known for both large-scale pig butchering scams, forced labour, and even torturing trafficked workers.
However, this nexus between China and Cambodia is not a new matter. In late January 2026, a US Federal Court judge sentenced a Chinese national for allegedly laundering $36.9 million to scam centers in Cambodia. The culprit stole millions, swapped them to UST stablecoins, and sent them to the scam centers.
Xinbi was close to being shut down
Authorities have earlier tried to shut down Xinbi. In 2025, Telegram shut down Xinbi’s usernames and channels amid a growing purge of crypto-crime platforms. However, that did not shake the platform. Instead, they quickly adapted. The platform executives moved their operations to another messaging app called SafeW, which had its own payment system, XinbiPay.
This shows how difficult it is to cease such illegal networks across industries besides cryptocurrency.
Officials from FCDO said that Xinbi’s illegal services might look like technical crypto tools, but in reality, they are a crucial infrastructure that bad actors use to deploy crimes.
Authorities are still watching for how such a scam network emerges and adapts. Meanwhile, several analysts underscore that unregulated payment platforms, less surveilled crypto services, and messaging platforms are leading to an increased number of crypto cybercrimes.
Past crackdowns signal how creative crypto-enabled criminals are. Specifically, pig butchering scams have become very common, where scammers build relationships with investors, convince them to put money into fake crypto projects, and show fake profits until they run away with the profits.
