The gray financial circles in Southeast Asia have been hit by a series of "platform earthquakes." Following the collapse of "Jiuding Guarantee" due to its involvement in the kidnapping case of Guo Congyuan in the Philippines, another veteran platform "Huiwang" (also known as "Haowang") has also been caught in a money laundering storm.
The first to erupt was the kidnapping incident of Guo Congyuan in the Philippines, which quickly caused a huge uproar, affecting the local Chinese community. Jiuding, which had long played a guarantor role in the gray finance sector, suddenly "went dark" — its license was revoked, management fled, user accounts were frozen, the trust system collapsed, and a large amount of underground financial chains were instantly broken. Dog pushers, underground financial merchants, and related forces plunged into panic, suffering heavy losses.
The domino effect of fate continues. This time, it was "Huiwang" (also known as "Haowang"), a guarantee platform that has been deeply rooted in Cambodia for many years, that was pushed to the forefront by money laundering allegations.
According to the latest report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), over the past four years, Huiwang Group has processed over $24 billion in fraudulent transactions through its cryptocurrency business. This platform, primarily serving Chinese users, is involved not only in guarantees, payments, and gambling but has also built its own cryptocurrency exchange, blockchain network, and a US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDH, creating a vast financial ecosystem disconnected from regulatory oversight.
This ecosystem is now drawing high alert from global law enforcement agencies. In March this year, Cambodia suddenly revoked the local financial license of "Haowang," causing industry shock. The news came abruptly, with users on Telegram stating that "Huiwang's robots and public groups were all canceled," creating a chaotic scene.
Although Haowang later declared in its official channel that it had "voluntarily canceled the license" and claimed that its international payment business had shifted to Japan and obtained a license, with a Canadian branch soon to launch, these statements failed to quell doubts.
A turning point occurred in early May — the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under the US Treasury Department designated Huiwang Group as a "significant money laundering risk institution" and planned to impose sanctions on it, prohibiting US financial institutions from opening accounts or providing settlement services for it.
The US Treasury Secretary stated outright that Huiwang has become the "preferred trading market" for Southeast Asian transnational scam groups, defrauding billions of dollars from global victims, especially US citizens, through online scams such as "pig butchering."
According to investigations, the Huiwang platform operates in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with a user base of 970,000 people, thousands of associated suppliers, and transactions involving not only money laundering, virtual accounts, and identity technologies but also tools such as electronic shackles that restrict the personal freedom of workers in scam parks. This is no longer an ordinary financial platform, but a highly systematic and industrialized criminal network.
Some reports indicate that platforms like Huiwang are attempting to create a financial closed loop independent of the traditional blockchain system — including their own stablecoins, exchanges, and on-chain systems, bypassing global financial regulation. This trend is spreading from Southeast Asia to Africa and South America.
Despite claims by Huiwang that "Haowang Guarantee" has separated from the parent group and operates independently, blockchain investigations show that the two still share funds and system interconnections, indicating a high degree of binding.
On May 13, "Haowang" Guarantee once again issued a notice in the Telegram public group, stating that due to continuous reporting by foreign media and issues such as platform bans and NFT freezes, it will completely stop public group operations, with "Potato Guarantee" taking over operations, and specialized group services temporarily preserved.
The announcement read: "Due to TG account bans and the NFT cleaning storm, Haowang Guarantee has decided to stop public group operations, with Potato Guarantee taking over. Users can choose to withdraw or transfer pledges. Haowang will never run away, the deposit is in the account, please queue up for processing with peace of mind."
Cryptocurrencies have driven a technological leap in money laundering models, also intensifying regulatory challenges. The direct victims of these platform collapses are the "dog pushers" gray production groups that depend on them for survival. From Jiuding to Huiwang, the operational systems of dog pushers are collapsing: funds are frozen, customers are lost, law enforcement is intensified, and the once profitable myth of earning tens of thousands a month with just a device is shattering.
As a veteran dog pusher said: "It used to be high risk, high return; now it's high risk, no return."
Following Jiuding, Huiwang Guarantee has also fallen, perhaps, this is just the beginning.
