Sanctioned Funds, Mainstream Exchanges: Mapping Huione and Xinbi Contamination Across Crypto Platforms
On May 26, 2026, the UK government added HUOBI GLOBAL S.A. — the entity now operating as HTX — to its latest round of Russia-related sanctions. The designation cited alleged provision of financial services, funds, or economic resources to A7 LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY.
The announcement prompted multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to impose risk controls on funds originating from HTX business addresses. Some users had their accounts frozen after receiving HTX withdrawal funds, putting sanctions exposure risk back in the industry spotlight.
Drawing on Bitrace’s intelligence and investigations into organized crime networks in Southeast Asia, this report discloses the financial links between major trading platforms and sanctioned entities including Huione and Xinbi.
Huione and Xinbi
Before the Junzi Group was placed under joint US-UK sanctions, Huione Group’s Huionepay and Huione/Haowang/Tudou Guarantee were the largest illicit crypto transaction service hubs in Southeast Asia, facilitating criminal activity including fraud, illegal online gambling, and human trafficking. Operations came to a full stop only after one of the masterminds, Chen Zhi, was extradited to China.
Xinbi Guarantee operates the same type of business as Huione Guarantee. After Huione Group’s collapse, Xinbi moved from second to first in the sector. Despite being sanctioned by the UK government in March 2026, its operations are unaffected and transaction volumes continue to grow rapidly — Xinbi now holds a 92.48% share of the local illicit transaction guarantee market.
How Guarantee Markets Contaminate CEXs
Guarantee market transactions typically take one of two forms: Private Group deals and Public Group deals.
In a Private Group transaction, one or both parties must first deposit USDT equal to the transaction value into the guarantee platform. Once the deal closes, the platform returns the deposit and deducts a commission. In a Public Group transaction, the service provider makes a large upfront deposit and rents the platform’s network group on a monthly basis, then earns revenue by serving multiple clients under a pre-report mechanism.
In short, under both models the funds collected by the guarantee platform are either deposits matching the temporary transaction value, or deposits and monthly fees paid by Public Group merchants.
When a party to a transaction uses an exchange hot wallet to post a deposit, or an exchange user address to receive one back, sanctions-risk funds can flow directly onto the trading platform.
Huione and Xinbi Contamination Landscape
Bitrace analyzed inflows and outflows from Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee business addresses between 2021 and 2026 across two dimensions.
The data shows that during the analysis period, major trading platforms collectively received 349 million USDT from Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee. Inflows peaked in April 2024 and have since declined steadily, falling back to 2021 levels — under 2 million USDT per month over the past three months.
During the same period, major trading platforms transferred a combined 441 million USDT to Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee, with the trend mirroring that of inflows.
Breaking down flows by destination, OKX, Binance, and HTX received 80%, 10%, and 7% of the funds, respectively — reflecting the Southeast Asian grey-market community’s strong preference for crypto platforms with Chinese-language backgrounds.
Conclusions
1. Despite being sanctioned, illicit crypto transaction guarantee platforms have not shut down and their transaction volumes are largely unaffected.
2. Organized crime networks in Southeast Asia are gradually reducing their presence on crypto exchanges, but exposure remains substantial — roughly 4 million USDT in risk transactions still flow between guarantee platforms and exchanges each month.
3. OKX, Binance, and HTX should treat this sanctions exposure as a serious compliance risk, take appropriate action on accounts that have received these funds, and prepare for potential future regulatory action.
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