The $12 Billion Crash: Telegram’s Tudou Guarantee Shuts Down After Tycoon’s Arrest

The Telegram marketplace Tudou Guarantee, a notorious hub for subterranean digital services, has precipitously curtailed its operations and ceased transactions across its public channels. According to findings from the analytics firm Elliptic, prior to its suspension, the platform facilitated transactions exceeding $12 billion in volume, solidifying its status as the third-largest illicit marketplace in recorded history.

While its core services have languished, certain segments of Tudou Guarantee—notably those dedicated to gambling—remain functional. Analysts posit that this stagnation may represent a transitional phase preceding a definitive shuttering or a strategic pivot toward a business model less overtly tethered to fraudulent activities.

The platform ascended to prominence following the demise of HuiOne Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee, two other formidable Telegram-based bazaars deeply entrenched in cyber-malfeasance. After Telegram orchestrated the mass removal of thousands of affiliated channels, vendors migrated to Tudou to peddle stolen credentials, cryptocurrency laundering services, and sophisticated AI-driven technologies—ranging from voice synthesis to high-fidelity deepfakes designed to subvert video-call authentication.

Recent intelligence from Chainalysis reveals that in 2024 alone, architects of AI-based fraudulent solutions amassed at least $375.9 million in cryptocurrency. This market witnessed an astronomical surge of 1900% between 2021 and 2024, empowering swindlers to generate hyper-realistic personas and amplify their predatory schemes at scale. Tudou’s expansion was further catalyzed in December 2024, when HuiOne acquired a 30% stake in the platform, effectively repurposing it as a sanctuary for its displaced partners.

Elliptic notes that Xinbi Guarantee has, conversely, resuscitated its operations following Telegram’s intervention. The absence of subsequent punitive measures by the messaging service has permitted such entities to persist without the necessity of migrating to alternative platforms.

The sudden dissipation of operational volume on Tudou coincided with the apprehension of Chen Zhi, head of the Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group, who is implicated in orchestrating a colossal investment fraud. He stands accused of presiding over a system of coerced labor involving displaced workers in Southeast Asia, where victims were enticed under romantic pretenses and subsequently forced to defraud others. Although Prince Group refutes these allegations, the activity within Tudou’s primary crypto-wallets plummeted immediately following the businessman’s arrest.

Elliptic regards the potential dissolution of Tudou as a significant blow to the regional fraud industry, yet emphasizes that such a vacuum is invariably ephemeral; emergent platforms are poised to inherit the displaced clientele. Concurrently, authorities are intensifying their offensive against transnational syndicates. In November 2025, the United States established the Scam Center Strike Force, a specialized entity dedicated to dismantling cryptocurrency fraud infrastructures in Southeast Asia. To date, this initiative has successfully confiscated $401 million in digital assets and initiated the systemic liquidation of infrastructures targeting American citizens.