The U.S. Department of Justice has dealt a devastating blow to the infrastructure of the crypto laundering operation Huione Group.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of a cloud account that served as a key node for the infrastructure of Huione Group. According to the department, this platform was directly involved in organizing transfers and laundering funds obtained from cryptocurrency fraud and other illegal activities.
The seized account supported the operation of servers that hosted numerous platforms and channels linked to illicit financial transactions. The investigation found that the Huione Group ecosystem provided a full range of services for organizers of investment scams, theft of digital assets, trading of personal data, and other forms of cybercrime. In particular, related Telegram channels actively advertised services for money laundering, selling stolen data, and supporting fraudulent call centers.
One of the Largest Centers of Crypto Crime
Huione Group has long been under close scrutiny by U.S. regulators. In 2025, FinCEN (a division of the U.S. Treasury Department) 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 illicit 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 described the latter as the largest illegal online platform for servicing crypto scammers.
Pressure on Scammers' Infrastructure Intensifies
The seizure of server infrastructure is the latest step in a broad U.S. campaign against financial services that support transnational fraud networks in Southeast Asia. The Justice Department emphasized that the goal of the operation is not merely to pursue individual criminals, but to completely dismantle the infrastructure that supports the entire crypto scam ecosystem.
Recall that in 2025, over $154 billion flowed into illicit cryptocurrency wallets—a 162% increase compared to 2024, according to Chainalysis data.
My professional commentary: The seizure of Huione Group's infrastructure is a landmark step, demonstrating that regulators are moving from targeted arrests to systemic strikes against the technical backbone of crypto crime. However, given the scale of illegal turnover, which continues to grow, this is only a temporary measure. As long as there is demand for anonymous financial services, such networks will recover, possibly in even more decentralized forms.