US Sanctions Xinbi Scam Hub, Restrains $52M in Crypto — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- US Justice Department seized two Xinbi wallets holding roughly $12 million in crypto and is pursuing restraints against 47 additional wallets across the marketplace's alleged laundering network.
- OFAC designated Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization and sanctioned Singapore-based SafeW Technology and Cambodia-based Anwen Technology for providing encrypted communications and crypto wallet infrastructure.
- Anwen Technology allegedly developed XinbiPay (also known as NewPay), the crypto wallet and payment app used by the marketplace, while Xinbi migrated to SafeW's encrypted messaging app around June 2025 as law enforcement scrutiny tightened.
- Treasury said Xinbi has processed more than $24 billion in crypto and fiat since roughly 2022, primarily through Southeast Asia, and that the platform was used by North Korean hackers and entities tied to the sanctioned Prince Group.
- DOJ credited stablecoin issuer Tether with assisting the investigation and seized Xinbi's Telegram channels — where vendors advertised money laundering, scam-investment websites, and recruitment for Southeast Asian scam compounds — under a Sept. 7 warrant.
- UK government imposed its own sanctions on Xinbi on March 26, freezing platform assets and barring it from the country's financial, trade, and travel networks.
Why it matters: The action hits the financial plumbing, not just the scammers: by sanctioning Xinbi alongside the technology providers (SafeW, Anwen) and seizing Telegram channels, US authorities are cutting off the communications and payments rails that industrial-scale Southeast Asian scam compounds depend on. Tether's cooperation is notable because stablecoins — often portrayed as outside the regulated financial system — are now directly feeding DOJ seizures.
Ask SkimNews
