Telegram shuts the 'largest darknet marketplace to have ever existed'

A major Chinese darknet marketplace suspected of facilitating crypto scams and cybercrime has been shut down by the Telegram messaging service, upon which it operated. The internet’s largest illicit marketplace, Haowang Guarantee, formerly Huione Guarantee, said it will shut down following Telegram’s ban of thousands of associated accounts on May 13.  “Since all our NFTs, channels and groups were blocked by Telegram on May 13, 2025, Haowang Guarantee will cease operations from now on,” read the notice on the marketplace website. A report from Wired said that this involved banning thousands of accounts and usernames that served as the infrastructure for the crypto crime marketplace and its vendors source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/telegram-shuts-down-huione-guarantee-in-account-purge?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound