Tether has reportedly frozen approximately $39.3 million in USDT across 10 addresses on the TRON blockchain linked to Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language guarantee marketplace that investigators say has facilitated billions of dollars in crypto transactions.
Blockchain intelligence platform MistTrack identified the restrictions on September 8, reporting that the affected wallets collectively contained 39,273,713 USDT. At least one address held more than $10 million. MistTrack attributed the addresses to Xinbi using wallet labels, transaction patterns and connections to addresses previously identified as Guarantee Merchant wallets.
Tether did not publicly confirm the reason for the restrictions at the time, meaning the specific legal or compliance basis behind the initial $39.3 million freeze remains unconfirmed.
Xinbi Processed Billions Through Crypto
Xinbi emerged around 2022 as a Chinese-language guarantee marketplace primarily operating through Telegram. Guarantee marketplaces function as informal escrow systems, connecting buyers with vendors while holding deposits designed to ensure transactions are completed.
Blockchain intelligence companies say Xinbi’s vendors have offered money laundering, stolen personal information, fake identification documents, scam infrastructure and other services supporting cybercrime. Estimates of Xinbi’s transaction volume vary because analytics companies use different address clusters and measurement periods.
TRM Labs estimates the platform has processed approximately $24.2 billion since its establishment, including $12.1 billion in inflows since May 2025. Chainalysis separately calculated more than $19.9 billion of activity between 2021 and 2025.
Earlier research from Elliptic identified at least $8.4 billion in USDT transactions by May 2025, describing that figure as a lower bound.
Telegram removed Xinbi’s original channels in May 2025, but investigators subsequently documented the platform rebuilding its presence and expanding to alternative infrastructure including SafeW and XinbiPay.
U.S. Sanctions Follow the Freeze
The September 8 wallet restrictions were followed one day later by significantly broader U.S. action. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee on September 9 as a transnational criminal organization and added numerous TRON addresses associated with the network to its sanctions list.
OFAC also sanctioned SafeW Technology and Anwen Technology, companies linked to infrastructure used by Xinbi. Elliptic subsequently disclosed that it had worked with the U.S. Secret Service to identify and freeze another $52.8 million in crypto assets connected to Xinbi. The analytics company said Xinbi exchanged approximately $2.8 million of its remaining USDT into USDD in the hours following wallet freezes.
Telegram also removed Xinbi’s central channels and banned associated usernames following the U.S. sanctions, according to Elliptic. The developments significantly escalate enforcement pressure on an ecosystem that previously demonstrated considerable resilience. They also highlight a fundamental distinction between centralized stablecoins such as USDT and permissionless native cryptocurrencies.
Although USDT moves across public blockchains, Tether retains the technical ability to blacklist addresses and prevent specific tokens from being transferred. Tether said in April that its cooperation with more than 340 law-enforcement agencies across 65 countries had contributed to freezing more than $4.4 billion in assets.
The Xinbi case demonstrates how that capability can intersect with blockchain analytics and government enforcement. However, wallet attribution remains important. MistTrack’s identification of the original 10 addresses as Xinbi-linked does not by itself establish that every dollar held in them represents criminal proceeds.
Nor should the original $39.3 million restriction automatically be combined with the subsequently disclosed $52.8 million freeze without confirmation that the underlying wallets are distinct.
What is clear is that Xinbi has moved rapidly from an analytics target to a formally sanctioned U.S. entity, while tens of millions of dollars in crypto assets linked to its network have become inaccessible within days.