Seven months after the collapse of Huiwang Pay, once described as “the Alipay of Southeast Asia,” a new group of online guarantee platforms has moved into the space it left behind, reshaping underground financial networks across the region.
Platforms including Xinbi, Jinbei, Dali, and Fulilai are now reported to be handling payment and escrow services linked to online fraud, illegal gambling, money laundering, and human trafficking operations. Their rise shows that Huiwang’s shutdown did not dismantle the wider system. Instead, it pushed the business into a more fragmented network of replacement platforms, chat groups, digital wallets, and private payment channels.
According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Huiwang processed more than $24 billion in crypto funds before it was closed. Elliptic later estimated that the broader Huiwang transaction network had handled more than $103 billion in cryptocurrency, making it one of the largest illicit online payment systems ever identified. U.S. agencies working under “Operation Riptide” have also linked Huiwang’s wider financial ecosystem to more than $310 billion in cumulative volume.
The shutdown affected an estimated 900,000 users whose deposits became inaccessible when withdrawals were suspended. But the demand for crypto-based payment rails among scam centers and underground operators did not disappear. Within months, rival guarantee platforms expanded quickly, taking over customers, payment channels, and laundering routes once tied to Huiwang.
The result is a harder target for law enforcement. Instead of one dominant payment hub, authorities are now facing a scattered network of smaller platforms that can shift wallets, brands, chat rooms, and payment tools when pressure increases.
How Huiwang became a central payment hub
Huiwang Pay grew by offering escrow-like payment services to online businesses that operated outside the regulated banking system. The platform was widely used in Southeast Asia, where scam compounds, illegal gambling groups, and offshore broker networks often rely on fast digital payments to move funds across borders.
Its model was simple. Buyers and sellers could use a guarantee service to hold funds during transactions, reducing the risk that one party would disappear with the money. In legitimate markets, escrow services are used to build trust. In Huiwang’s network, the same structure allegedly helped criminal groups trade stolen data, launder proceeds, move gambling funds, and pay for services linked to fraud compounds.
The company’s downfall accelerated after its links to the Prince Group and its main backer, Chen Zhi, came under scrutiny. The United States Department of Justice indicted Chen in October 2025, and authorities seized 127,000 BTC, worth about $15 billion at the time. The case became one of the largest crypto-related enforcement actions tied to Southeast Asia’s scam economy.
Huiwang then faced a liquidity crisis. Withdrawals were suspended, users lost access to deposited funds, and Cambodia’s central bank canceled the company’s operating license. As the platform broke down, its customers began looking for alternatives.
Those alternatives were already waiting.
Xinbi moves into the lead
Xinbi, founded in 2022, has emerged as one of the most prominent replacements for Huiwang. The platform’s total revenue has surpassed 1.6 billion USDT, according to blockchain analytics cited in investigations into the sector.
A key part of Xinbi’s growth has been Newpay, its proprietary payment tool. Newpay has been linked to the laundering of stolen digital assets and has reportedly seen rapid expansion since Huiwang’s collapse. As former Huiwang users sought new ways to move funds, Newpay and similar tools became attractive because they offered familiar services in a less centralized structure.
The shift is important because it shows how quickly the underground financial market can adapt. When one large operator is removed, smaller and mid-sized platforms can absorb the demand almost immediately. In many cases, they use the same language, the same escrow model, and similar crypto payment methods.
Blockchain records show that the expansion of Xinbi accelerated after Huiwang came under pressure. That growth did not appear to come only from ordinary payment users. Investigators have linked parts of the platform’s activity to stolen funds, scam proceeds, and services used by criminal networks operating in Southeast Asia.
Linghang and the human trafficking link
Another platform, Linghang, also known as Tiger Guarantee, has been tied to cross-border human trafficking and forced labor networks.
Investigations found that between February and July 2025, more than 100 million USDT in deposits flowed into escrow wallets associated with Linghang’s “labor export” business model. The term is often used by criminal operators to disguise the recruitment and movement of workers into compounds where they may be forced to carry out online fraud.
Across Southeast Asia, thousands of people have been trafficked into scam centers in recent years. Victims are often lured by fake job advertisements, then transported across borders and held in guarded compounds. Once inside, they are forced to run romance scams, crypto fraud, fake trading schemes, or other online cons.
Payment platforms play a central role in that system. They allow organizers to collect ransom payments, pay recruiters, move profits, and settle accounts between criminal groups. The use of USDT and other digital assets makes it easier to transfer value quickly across jurisdictions, especially where banking controls are weak or law enforcement coordination is slow.
Linghang’s alleged role highlights the overlap between digital payments and physical crimes. These platforms are not only moving money from online fraud. In some cases, they are also supporting the logistics of forced labor, abduction, and cross-border exploitation.
Jinbei’s roots in gambling operations
Jinbei, later renamed Jinbo, traces its origins to casino operations linked to Chen Zhi and Cambodian elites. The platform initially focused on online gambling, a sector that has long been connected to offshore payment systems in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines.
Even after the United States sanctioned several Cambodia-based gaming centers, parts of the network reportedly continued to operate. Two venues were closed by authorities, but six associated compounds were said to have remained open.
Online gambling has often served as a bridge between legitimate-looking business and illicit finance. Gambling platforms can generate large transaction volumes, create complex payment flows, and provide cover for laundering funds. When combined with crypto payment rails, these systems can move money across borders with limited friction.
Jinbei’s evolution into Jinbo reflects a common pattern in the underground payments sector. When a brand becomes exposed, operators may rename the platform, shift operations to new domains, alter wallet addresses, or move activity to private chat groups. The underlying business can continue even if its public identity changes.
Dali absorbs Huiwang’s former customers
Dali Guarantee, operating under the trade name Tiancheng, is reported to have absorbed part of Huiwang’s former “Potato Guarantee” clientele through its payment service, OkPay.
OkPay became one of several tools used by former Huiwang customers to continue transacting after the larger platform collapsed. Alongside Newpay and Fulilai’s FullyLight Wallet, OkPay helped process major volumes of USDT.
Data from blockchain analysts indicate that OkPay, Newpay, and FullyLight Wallet processed more than 4.8 billion USDT between May 2025 and April 2026. That period overlaps with the disruption of Huiwang and the rapid growth of replacement services.
The movement of customers from Huiwang to Dali shows how brand loyalty is less important than access to payment infrastructure. Users mostly sought reliable escrow, liquidity, and the ability to move funds without facing strict identity checks. Platforms that could provide those functions quickly gained market share.
Fulilai’s links to Myanmar’s Kokang region
Fulilai Guarantee has deeper roots in Myanmar’s Kokang region, an area long associated with illegal casinos, armed groups, and cross-border criminal networks.
The platform was founded in 1996 by Liu Zhengxiang, according to records cited in investigations. The Liu family’s wider network was later dismantled after Chinese authorities uncovered criminal operations involving 2.6 billion CNY in online fraud, 8 billion CNY in gambling proceeds, and several million more in illegal earnings from extortion and prostitution.
Fulilai reportedly served as a financial backbone for regional scam compounds before its network was disrupted. Its FullyLight Wallet later appeared as one of the payment tools processing large volumes of USDT after Huiwang’s collapse.
The history of Fulilai shows that the current crypto-based guarantee platforms did not emerge from nowhere. Many have roots in older gambling, smuggling, and informal banking networks. Digital assets gave these groups faster settlement methods and wider reach, but the underlying structures often predate cryptocurrency.
A scattered network makes enforcement harder
The collapse of Huiwang removed one of the most visible payment hubs in the region. But it also forced illegal money handlers to spread activity across dozens of smaller channels.
This matters for law enforcement. A single large platform creates a clear enforcement target. Authorities can pressure banks, freeze known wallets, seize servers, and pursue executives. A scattered network is more difficult. Operators can move between chat rooms, close one wallet and open another, or rebrand services before a formal case is complete.
Researchers at the Royal United Services Institute found that global internet users lost an estimated $442 billion to fraud networks in 2025. That figure reflects the scale of the scam economy now tied to online payments, digital assets, and cross-border criminal operations.
Independent data trackers also found that the largest surviving guarantee platform had handled more than $24 billion in total volume by early 2026. That level of activity suggests that replacement platforms are not small emergency substitutes. They are becoming major financial channels in their own right.
Enforcement pressure is increasing
Authorities are now moving beyond website takedowns and wallet blacklists. The reported arrest of Chen in Cambodia and his extradition to China earlier this year signaled a shift toward targeting the senior figures behind scam and payment networks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also seized key cloud servers used by money laundering groups in late June, according to enforcement reports. That raid gave U.S. authorities access to large volumes of hidden chat logs, payment records, and private operational data.
Such server seizures can be more valuable than wallet freezes alone. Chat logs may reveal who controlled specific wallets, which platforms worked together, how customers were screened, and how funds moved between scams, gambling sites, brokers, and cash-out services. They may also expose ordinary-looking accounts that interacted with blacklisted services.
For traders in digital assets, the growing enforcement campaign creates new compliance risks. Accounts that once appeared unrelated to criminal activity may face scrutiny if past wallet transfers are linked to sanctioned platforms, seized servers, or laundering networks. Federal agencies are already examining data from the Huiwang-linked ecosystem, and more freezing orders could follow.
That does not mean every person who touched a tainted wallet knowingly joined a criminal network. Crypto transactions can pass through many hands. But the expansion of blockchain tracing and server-based evidence means authorities can examine transaction histories with far more detail than before.
The business model survives under new names
Huiwang’s name has largely disappeared from the market, but its business model continues. The core structure remains the same: guarantee platforms connect buyers, sellers, scammers, gambling groups, and money launderers through escrow services and crypto payment rails.
These platforms thrive because they solve problems for underground businesses. They provide trust between parties that cannot use courts, banks, or regulated payment firms. They offer settlement in stablecoins such as USDT. They operate through private groups where identity checks are weak or absent. And when pressure rises, they can change branding or shift infrastructure.
The growth of Xinbi, Jinbei, Dali, Fulilai, and related services shows that Southeast Asia’s illicit finance networks are becoming more organized, not less. The market has moved from one dominant platform to a wider ecosystem of competing services, each filling part of the gap left by Huiwang.
For regulators and police agencies, that means the next phase will be more complex. Success will depend not only on seizing crypto wallets, but also on identifying operators, mapping chat networks, disrupting cloud infrastructure, and coordinating action across borders.
For traders and ordinary users, the message is also clear: offshore escrow groups, secret payment rooms, and anonymous wallet services now carry significant legal and financial risk. As enforcement agencies dig through seized data, the underground payment networks that once looked hidden are becoming increasingly visible.
Concerned about illicit crypto flows in Asia? Strengthen your defenses with Toobit’s guide on crypto safety standards and protect your assets.
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