Telegram Guarantee Market has gradually formed an underground service system integrating guarantee matching, fund settlement, merchant management, and traffic distribution, exhibiting clear platform-based and networked development features.

From the development path of leading platforms, the replacement process of Huione, Tudou, and Xinbi indicates that the development of Telegram guarantee market is not solely dependent on single-platform expansion, but involves a dynamic evolution process under continuous regulatory and law enforcement pressure, with platform contraction, demand spillover, and new node onboarding.

Although multiple leading platforms have successively faced regulatory, law enforcement, or sanctions impacts, market demand has not disappeared but has continued to migrate to other platforms, merchant networks, and alternative tools.

The use of new private domain tools represented by SafeW (a privacy communication tool similar to Telegram) and the frequent changing of platform addresses reflect an ecological shift toward more decentralized, covert, and resilient anti-attack capabilities.

Overall, while targeted strikes can suppress the activity of top platforms, the ongoing governance of the entire Telegram guarantee ecosystem still faces long-term challenges of cross-platform migration and rapid reorganization.

1. Current Overview of Telegram Guarantee Services

In recent years, “guarantee services” developed within the Telegram ecosystem have evolved from auxiliary tools for anonymous transaction trust issues into vital infrastructure supporting underground economies. These services introduce third-party guarantors, using on-chain encrypted assets (mainly USDT) for fund escrow and transaction matching, constructing an alternative credit mechanism in environments lacking legal constraints and identity trust.

Unlike traditional regulated guarantee or payment systems, Telegram guarantee services inherently feature cross-border, anonymous, and low-threshold characteristics, enabling rapid infiltration and expansion in high-risk and even illegal transaction scenarios. From early simple intermediary matching to now complex structures integrating merchant systems, automation bots, and fund aggregation/distribution capabilities, their functional boundaries have significantly expanded, no longer limited to “transaction security tools,” but gradually encompassing “market + clearing/settlement network + credit intermediary” attributes.

During this evolution, guarantee platforms not only handle high-frequency fund flows but also objectively form key liquidity nodes within underground economies. Especially in acceptance, collection and payment, laundering, and other fund transfer activities, guarantee mechanisms have become crucial hubs connecting fund supply and demand, enabling illegal transactions to scale and systematize.

It is noteworthy that despite increasing regulatory and law enforcement efforts in recent years, market demand persists and even drives the evolution of guarantee forms from centralized platforms toward decentralized, multi-node, and tool-based structures. This change indicates that the Telegram guarantee system is shifting from “a single identifiable and targetable entity” to a “self-reconstructing networked structure.”

Based on this, this article focuses on the infrastructure role of Telegram guarantee platforms in underground economies, analyzing their business structure, evolution path, fund characteristics, and impact on AML risk control through open intelligence and on-chain fund data.

2. Business Scope Overview

Essentially, Telegram guarantee platforms serve as a black/gray industry comprehensive trading market integrating credit guarantee services. Their business functions can be categorized into four main types within the black/gray chain: fund flows, resource supply, technical services, and high-risk applications. These four categories form a complete underground industry closed loop.

Figure 1: Overview of Guarantee Market Business

1. Fund Flow Category

This type of business revolves around the movement of “money,” making it the core and largest part of the guarantee system, and a key focus for AML. Main types include:

• Acceptance Business: Exchange between crypto assets (USDT) and fiat currency (USDT to fiat / fiat to USDT)

• Collection and Payment: Using third-party accounts for fund aggregation and distribution, or employing “relatively clean funds” to provide payment outlets for upstream black funds

• Laundering/ Mixing: Typical underground money laundering networks providing cleaning services for numerous black/gray funds

Core Features:

• Heavy reliance on guarantee platforms as credit intermediaries

• High-frequency, small-amount splitting and re-aggregation of funds

• Addresses frequently changing, large transaction flows

• Widely used in scams, gambling, and laundering after black funds withdrawal

The essential function of this business is to facilitate the “flow, exchange, and path reorganization” of illegal funds.

2. Resource Supply Category

This business provides “available resources” for various illegal activities, serving as the foundational support layer of black/gray industries. Main types include:

• Account resources: bank cards, payment accounts, third-party/fourth-party collection codes

• Identity resources: real-name data, KYC info, corporate accounts

• Communication resources: phone cards, SMS verification platforms, messaging channels

• Enterprise and channel resources: shell companies, payment channels, merchant credentials

Core Features:

• Mostly one-time or short-term assets

• Reusable and resellable, forming a “resource market”

• Highly coupled with fund flow activities (used to receive funds)

The core role is to provide “landing carriers” and “identity shells” for fund movement.

3. Technology & Service Category

This business does not directly generate funds or resources but significantly enhances the “efficiency” and “scalability” of black/gray industries. Main types include:

• Fraud tech support: phishing sites, imitation pages, trojans

• Traffic and customer acquisition: social media advertising, scripted chats, targeted data packages

• System building: score-matching systems, payment channel systems, backend management panels

• Risk control evasion services: anti-detection strategies, IP proxies, device environment masking

Core Features:

• Obvious trend toward “outsourced services”

• Fine-grained professional division (technology, operations, conversion)

• Reusable across multiple crime scenarios

The core function is to upgrade black/gray production from “manual workshops” to “industrialized assembly lines.”

4. High-Risk Transaction Category

This business is the final application scenario of the above three, directly corresponding to specific illegal activities. Main types include:

• Gambling-related: platform recharges, points acceptance, fund backflow

• Pornography and escort: transaction matching, long-term relationship maintenance

• Human trafficking/illegal labor: cross-border labor transfer, intermediary matching

• Data and account trading: personal info, social media accounts, e-commerce accounts

Core Features:

• Transaction targets are highly non-standardized

• Heavy reliance on guarantee