Illegal data vendor Huione launches stablecoin, messaging service

Huione, a black market for stolen personal data and money laundering services, launched its own stablecoin.

The new stablecoin uses ticker USDH and is meant to avoid rules that are imposed on stablecoins, according to a recent report by crypto cybersecurity firm Elliptic. The report reads:

“In September Huione launched a US dollar-backed stablecoin, USDH. On its website it states as a benefit that USDH ‘avoids the common freezing and transfer restrictions of traditional digital currencies’ and that ‘USDH is not restricted by traditional regulatory agencies.'”

The details

Most mainstream stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT have built-in features that allow the issuer to freeze accounts when it is determined that they are engaged in illicit activity. One of Huione’s accounts was frozen by Tether last summer after it received funds linked to a theft attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group — a famous state-backed hacker cartel.

Huione is largely dependent on USDT to operate, which likely motivated the organization to develop its own alternative to avoid risking more similar freezes. The Telegram-based marketplace recently started promoting USDH to its users.

So far, the new stablecoin has been launched on Ethereum (ETH), Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and the Tron (TRX) blockchains as well as the organization’s own Huione Chain (HC). Per Elliptic, Huione also launched its own wallet and decentralized exchange as well as an instant messaging service.

(Left) A money laundering service provider claiming to represent and operate from a reported scam compound offers to launder the proceeds of pig butchering. (Right) The Golden Fortune compound is made up of buildings with barred windows, surrounded by 10-foot-high walls topped with barbed wire fences. | Elliptic

ChatMe, Huione’s messaging app, launched in August and replicates many of the features of Telegram — where Huione’s deals happen now. The App is available both on iOS and Android’s stores and allows for the creation of the group chats and bots that Huione uses to operate on Telegram while also being integrated with Huione Chain for payments.

Per Elliptic, Huione’s “continue to offer illicit goods and services, including the laundering of the proceeds of scams such as so-called pig butchering.” The violence perpetrated by the group is not solely online:

“Trafficked Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese nationals are forced to carry out cyberscams in the Golden Fortune compound. Workers that escape are reportedly hunted down and beaten by security guards, while many female workers are forced into prostitution and pornography.”

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