UK Slaps Sanctions On $20B Crypto Black Market Tied To Southeast Asia Scam Rings

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis puts the number at close to $20 billion — the estimated volume of dirty money that flowed through Xinbi, a Chinese-language crypto marketplace, between 2021 and 2025. Now the UK government wants to shut it down. Related Reading: Ethereum Supply Tightens As Staking And Outflows Hit Record Highs Scam Hubs At The Center Of It All Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced Thursday that it has imposed sweeping sanctions on Xinbi, a platform accused of providing crypto-based services, scam tools, and other criminal resources to bad actors across Southeast Asia. The move freezes any UK-linked assets tied to the platform and bans British banks, crypto firms, and citizens from doing any business with it — financial or otherwise. Xinbi is not just a payment processor for criminals. Reports indicate the platform sits at the center of a web of interconnected illicit operations, many of them tied to scam compounds scattered across