According to data submitted to South Korea's National Assembly by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), transactions between Cambodia's Huione Guarantee, an affiliate of the Huione Group, and five major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges surged to ₩12.86 billion (approximately $8.98 million) in 2024, representing a staggering 1,400-fold increase from just ₩9.22 million in 2023.
99.9% of these transactions were conducted in Tether (USDT), with Bithumb accounting for the lion's share, seeing Huione-linked deposits and withdrawals jump from ₩9.22 million in 2023 to over ₩12.42 billion in 2024. Upbit recorded its first inflows and outflows in 2024 at ₩366.9 million, while Coinone and Korbit handled smaller volumes of ₩1.2 million and ₩11.87 million, respectively.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) cut off Huione Group from the U.S. financial system under section 311 of the USA Patriot Act, citing investigations that revealed the group's involvement in money laundering, including illicit proceeds from North Korean cyber heists. The U.S. Treasury also alleged that Huione acted as a financial intermediary for "pig butchering" scams, cyber fraud, and other illicit schemes across Southeast Asia, with coordinated sanctions imposed by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) and the U.S. State Department.
Some exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb, severed ties with Huione Guarantee in early 2025, but transactions continued, with over ₩3.49 billion moved between January and October 2025. Bithumb led again with ₩2.18 billion, followed by Upbit at ₩523 million. South Korean Representative Lee Yang-soo has urged authorities to monitor stablecoin flows closely and devise countermeasures, as policymakers prepare to impose sanctions on Cambodian criminal networks and their crypto facilitators.
This comes amid broader investigations into online scams, kidnapping, and human trafficking in Cambodia, with over 50 South Koreans repatriated after arrests for alleged involvement in fraud operations, prompting lawmakers to visit Cambodia to inspect reports of employment scams and illegal confinement.
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