The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) announced on December 4 that it had closed Huione Group - a scandal center used to launder billions of dollars from criminals, scammers and hackers (hackers), including hackers from Korea and Southeast Asia.
Huione Group - a long-time payment service provider with many companies located in Cambodia - is suspected of laundering more than 4 billion USD in illegal profits since August 2021, according to information from the US Treasury Department.
A New York Times study published in March this year shows that companies under Huione Group are the center of a global money laundering network.
Online scammers who defraud victims with fake investment projects or other tricks have relied on Huione and its affiliated companies to transfer money abroad, avoiding law enforcement agencies and the bank's anti-money laundering department.
Huione Group was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in November 2025, identified as a money laundering organization and banned US financial institutions from trading with any Huione subsidiaries.
In a notice posted on LinkedIn on December 4, the National Bank of Cambodia said it had revoked Huione's license and liquidated the unit's assets.
The discovery of Huione as an international money laundering center has exposed the sophistication and organization of underground networks, specializing in appropriating billions of dollars from victims around the world.
Huione is a financial institution recognized in Cambodia and Southeast Asian countries, but behind its legitimate operations is an underlying network of money laundering centers, platforms and online markets, a "one-stop shop" for money laundering.
Among Huione's most profitable money laundering machines is an online school involved in more than $26 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021. While it is difficult to determine which transactions are legal, analytics firm Elliptic said the platform is the world's largest illegal Internet market.
In the announcement on December 4, the National Bank of Cambodia emphasized that no financial institution or bank is allowed to conduct cryptocurrency transactions in this country.
The National Bank of Cambodia wants to remind the public as well as all financial institutions and banks to be extremely cautious when conducting transactions related to crypto assets, the statement said.
