Colorado Has a Massive Home-Grown Crypto Crime Problem

A Chinese crypto service called Xinbi Guarantee, an online marketplace for laundering money, for-hire harassment, hacking rings, and sex trafficking, was hiding in plain sight in Colorado — until crypto-tracking group Elliptic caught wind of the operation. According to the firm's latest report, Xinbi's business was mostly conducted through the freewheeling messaging site Telegram, where criminal operatives based mostly in Southeast Asia sold illicit services and orchestrated movements of stolen cash and data. According to Elliptic, around $8.4 billion has been funneled through the crypto operation, primarily by way of Tether stablecoins. Now, though, Xinbi might be in trouble: when Wired — which first reported on Elliptic's findings — reached out to Telegram to inquire about the marketplace, the social media site responded by removing several accounts connected to Xinbi and its administrators. Per Wired, the bulk of Xinbi Guarantee's transactions are related to "pig butchering" sch ... Read full article.