The U.S. Department of Justice struck a blow against the infrastructure of the "crypto laundering" Huione Group: a cloud account was seized.
The U.S. Department of Justice reported the seizure of a cloud account used by Huione Group entities to host servers serving illegal financial operations. This is a direct blow to the infrastructure that facilitated money laundering from crypto scams, theft of digital assets, and other types of cybercrime.
The seized account supported platforms and channels through which services were provided for organizers of investment fraud, trade in stolen personal data, and even the operation of fraudulent call centers. In particular, related Telegram channels actively advertised money laundering services and the sale of compromised data.
One of the largest centers of crypto crime
Huione Group has long been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators. In 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department's FinCEN designated the company as a "primary money laundering concern," effectively cutting it off from the U.S. financial system. According to the agency's estimates, from August 2021 to January 2025, at least $4 billion in illegal funds passed through the group's structures. This amount includes money from cryptocurrency fraud, cyberattacks by North Korean hackers, and other criminal schemes.
The ecosystem included the payment service Huione Pay, the cryptocurrency platform Huione Crypto, and the marketplace Haowang Guarantee (formerly Huione Guarantee). Analysts called the latter the largest illegal online platform for servicing crypto scammers.
Pressure on fraudsters' infrastructure intensifies
The seizure of server infrastructure is not just a one-time action but a systemic phase of the U.S. campaign against financial services supporting transnational fraud networks in Southeast Asia. The Justice Department emphasized that the operation's goal is not only to prosecute individual criminals but also to destroy the infrastructure that sustains the entire crypto scam ecosystem.
Recall that in 2025, the volume of illegal crypto assets exceeded $154 billion, a 162% increase from 2024, according to Chainalysis data. This confirms that combating such structures is a key priority for law enforcement.
My comment: The seizure of Huione Group's cloud account is a landmark precedent, demonstrating that regulators are moving from targeted arrests to dismantling entire ecosystems. However, given the $4 billion scale and the growth of illegal turnover, such measures are currently only slowing, not stopping, the flow of criminal funds. The industry needs stricter KYC mechanisms and collaboration with blockchain analysts to cut off the oxygen supply to such "laundries."