Amid growing scrutiny of crypto fraud, tudou guarantee appears to be shutting down after large-scale Tether refunds that could reshape scam operations.
$130 million in USDT refunds as Telegram escrow winds down
A Telegram-based escrow service tied to the illicit Tudou marketplace appears to be winding down after refunding more than $130 million in stablecoins. According to blockchain analytics Bitrace, the refunds in Tether USDT have flowed back to public merchants since the beginning of 2026.
Moreover, Bitrace data shows that Tudor Guarantee initiated refunds of roughly $3.7 million on Jan. 1, with volumes building steadily over subsequent days. The activity peaked at about $18.1 million on Sunday, suggesting a coordinated effort to unwind positions held on the service.
Earlier on Friday, the company appeared to announce the closure of operations via its Telegram channel, according to screenshots shared by Bitrace. However, no separate public statement has been observed so far outside that channel, leaving observers reliant on on-chain data and internal communications.
Potential hit to phishing and pig butchering scams
The apparent shutdown may slow phishing operations and pig butchering scams that were previously sold as turnkey services by hundreds of vendors on the marketplace. That said, investigators warn that such operations often migrate quickly to new platforms when existing hubs come under pressure.
In December, an investor reportedly lost an entire Bitcoin retirement fund in an artificial intelligence-driven romance scheme. The fraudsters used prolonged emotional manipulation to convince the victim to transfer savings, illustrating how social engineering remains central to these schemes.
Phishing attacks have become the second-largest threat to crypto users after supply-chain breaches, according to CertiK. The blockchain security firm reported that such scams cost investors a cumulative $722 million across 248 incidents in 2025, underscoring the scale of the problem.
Elliptic links Tudou to $89 billion in crypto flows
Elliptic has played a key role in mapping the fraud infrastructure around the Tudou ecosystem. The firm previously identified thousands of wallet addresses associated with Tudou Guarantee’s vendors and operations to help users avoid interacting with the marketplace.
The blockchain forensics provider also flagged about $89 billion in crypto received by those illicit wallets, according to a report published in January 2025. Moreover, the report detailed how funds moved across exchanges and services, complicating law enforcement tracing efforts.
Tudou Guarantee itself processed at least $24 billion in transactions, increasingly leaning on its cryptocurrency infrastructure to settle payments between merchants and clients. This heavy reliance on digital assets helped the marketplace scale across borders while attempting to avoid traditional financial oversight.
From Huione Guarantee to stablecoin experiments
Elliptic’s July 2024 exposure of the platform as a multibillion-dollar hub for online fraudsters prompted a rebranding from Huione Guarantee to its current name. However, the rebrand did little to reduce the attention from regulators, media and blockchain investigators.
In September 2024, the marketplace launched a US dollar-based stablecoin as its latest crypto initiative, following earlier launches of a proprietary blockchain, a crypto exchange and a messaging app. That said, these efforts also broadened the digital footprint that investigators could analyze.
The wider Huione Group, based in Cambodia, runs payment service Huione Pay and crypto exchange Huione Crypto, in addition to the now-rebranded Tudou service. The emerging huione group scandal narrative has focused on how these entities may have intersected with online fraud networks.
Impact of tudou guarantee shutdown on scam infrastructure
Analysts say the apparent shutdown of tudou guarantee removes a major crypto scam marketplace hub that offered escrow, infrastructure and settlement rails to fraud vendors. However, they caution that demand for illicit services is unlikely to disappear and may instead shift quickly to new platforms.
Nevertheless, the combination of elliptic wallet tracing, Bitrace analytics and growing law enforcement scrutiny suggests an increasingly hostile environment for large, centralized scam infrastructure. Over time, sustained pressure on escrow providers and marketplaces could raise the operational costs for cybercriminals and limit large-scale victimization.
In summary, the surge in tether usdt refunds, on-chain evidence and Telegram communications points to a significant contraction in Tudou-linked fraud services, even as the broader battle against crypto crime continues.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/01/16/tudou-guarantee-usdt-refunds/
