The post New darknet marketplaces are dominating activity on Telegram despite shutting down Huione Guarantee appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The shutdown of the illicit marketplace, Huione Guarantee, has allowed smaller darknet platforms to surface and thrive on Telegram. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic disclosed this in a recent report, noting the growth of bad actors on the social messaging app. According to the report, over 30 guarantee marketplaces have surfaced on Telegram, offering bad actors a platform for accessing services and goods, such as scamming and money laundering tools. Huione Guarantee was once famous for facilitating such transactions. However, Telegram shut down Huione Guarantee on May 13, based on earlier research from Elliptic, which identified that bad actors had used the platform to facilitate over $27 billion worth of transactions. The shutdown, which affected thousands of channels and usernames connected to the mega marketplace, effectively crippled its activity, forcing it to initially offer escrow services for private transactions for a few weeks before eventually shutting down fully. Nevertheless, its collapse has only opened room for other Chinese-language online marketplaces where users can trade in illicit goods and services. These channels, known as guarantee marketplaces, have multiplied since the incident, with no clear action from Telegram. The report said: “The guarantee market ecosystem is a complex one, with many examples of fake marketplaces seeking to defraud its customers, but Elliptic is currently tracking over thirty highly active markets. The closure of Huione Guarantee has created an opportunity for many of these competitors to fill the gap.” With new and existing marketplaces emerging to fill the gap left by Huione, the analytics experts believe that Telegram needs to enforce a wider crackdown to eliminate these channels. Meanwhile, the Elliptic report clarified the difference between Huione Guarantee and other businesses within the Huione Group. It was noted that Huione Guarantee had stopped operating in late May, when it ended its escrow services, contrary…

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Filed under: News - @ June 23, 2025 9:26 pm