For over three years, **Telegram** has allegedly served as the home for **Xinbi Guarantee**, a black market offering money laundering services, weapons, and even human trafficking. Despite reports highlighting the blatant criminal activity, Telegram has allowed Xinbi Guarantee to become the largest black market on the internet, facilitating an estimated $21 billion in transactions. ### UK Sanctions Ignored The UK government officially sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee, citing its role in enabling human trafficking. However, nearly three weeks later, Telegram has yet to remove Xinbi's accounts, allowing over half a billion dollars' worth of illicit deals to occur since the sanctions were imposed. According to **Elliptic**, a cryptocurrency tracing firm, Xinbi Guarantee conducted $505 million in transactions in the 19 days following the UK sanctions, adding tens of thousands of new users to reach nearly half a million participants. Elliptic reports no signs of Telegram taking action to ban the market. "Xinbi is still going strong," says Tom Robinson, cofounder and chief scientist at Elliptic. "They're on track to become the largest market of this kind that's ever existed." ### A Lack of Accountability The apparent refusal to remove the black market represents an appalling lack of accountability, according to Gary Warner, a security researcher at **DarkTower**. "It boggles my mind," Warner states. "There's literally no legitimate company in the world that hosts this level of criminal activity and is so open about it." Telegram did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Last year, a Telegram spokesperson justified hosting Xinbi Guarantee by arguing that it allows Chinese citizens "to seek alternative avenues for moving funds internationally." This justification has been undermined by Elliptic's findings that Xinbi is primarily used for money laundering, including for Chinese-run scam syndicates operating human trafficking compounds. ### Disturbing Offerings Xinbi Guarantee has also hosted a variety of other black market offerings, including harassment services and even sex workers as young as 14, who are likely trafficking victims. Listings for electrified batons, tasers, and handcuffs, potentially intended for human trafficking operations, have also been observed. ### Previous Action and Subsequent Inaction Notably, Telegram previously banned Xinbi Guarantee last year after inquiries from WIRED. However, the market was allowed to rebuild despite Telegram's own terms of service prohibiting such activities. Xinbi Guarantee has reportedly asked its users to transition to another platform called **SafeW**, but the majority of activity remains on Telegram. Elliptic's Robinson believes that moving users to SafeW will be challenging due to Telegram's large user base. Warner argues that Telegram's enabling of Chinese-language black markets deserves greater attention from both the company and law enforcement agencies worldwide. He suggests that **Pavel Durov**, Telegram's founder and CEO, should be held accountable for hosting such a large criminal ecosystem. (Durov was, in fact, arrested and charged in France in 2024 but has since been released while the French government’s investigation reportedly continues.) "He should be the subject of an international task force," claims Warner. "He should be hunted down and arrested. He should be forced to be held accountable."