UN Reveals Crime Syndicates Launch Crypto Coins to Launder Billions Globally
Crime syndicates turn crypto into billion-dollar laundering machine
Organized crime in Southeast Asia has gone high-tech, with criminal syndicates now building their own cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and blockchain ecosystems to launder billions, according to a damning new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). These groups are no longer content using existing crypto platforms—instead, they’re engineering entire financial infrastructures to avoid detection and regulation.
A key example is Huione Guarantee, now rebranded as Haowang, which has reportedly handled over $24 billion in fraud-related crypto transactions. Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the platform has nearly one million users and offers everything from a trading app and online gambling to a blockchain network and even a USD-backed stablecoin—specifically designed to bypass government restrictions.
The UN report highlights how crime hubs in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos have industrialized scams using blockchain, artificial intelligence, and stablecoins. These operations run sophisticated fraud schemes like phishing, fake investments, and “pig butchering” scams that lure victims into fake online romances before draining their funds.
Major arrests have followed. In October 2024, Hong Kong authorities dismantled a romance scam center using AI deepfakes to steal over $46 million. Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency followed with a raid in December 2024, arresting 792 suspects linked to another crypto scam.
The UN warns that these crypto crime empires are rapidly expanding into Africa, South America, and the Pacific, leveraging self-made tokens and private exchanges to skirt international financial laws. With Huione even launching a Visa card in 2025, global regulators face mounting pressure to act.
As Asia's underground banking networks go global, the UN is calling on governments to close regulatory gaps and halt this rising wave of digital crime.
