$18 Billion Moved — Why Crypto Laundering Markets Are Hard to Kill

[cryptobro]

A Chinese-language crypto guarantee marketplace called Xinbi processed nearly $18 billion in onchain transactions, according to new research from TRM Labs — despite bans, arrests, and platform crackdowns.

Telegram shut down clusters of similar services in 2025. U.S. enforcement targeted laundering networks. Yet Xinbi didn’t disappear — it adapted. The platform migrated users to alternative messaging apps and launched its own wallet infrastructure, XinbiPay, allowing activity to rebound by early 2026.

TRM says services like Xinbi sit at the center of the scam economy, acting as escrow and settlement layers for fraud and cybercrime syndicates. Take them down, and entire networks are exposed. Fail to, and they quietly rebuild elsewhere.

Enforcement isn’t stopping these systems — it’s forcing them to evolve.

[cryptohog]

xinbi adapting after enforcement is wild reminds me that you can’t really kill these networks