Huione Pay lost its Cambodian banking license. It says it doesn't matter.
The company has accused critics of spreading misinformation as it plans further international expansion.
Last week, Cambodia's financial regulator confirmed it revoked Huione Pay's banking license due to compliance violations, a move that might typically signal major disruption to a financial service. Yet, the controversial conglomerate insists it is business as usual.
The National Bank of Cambodia withdrew the license from Huione Pay—part of Huione Group, the company behind the illicit marketplace Haowang Guarantee (formerly Huione Guarantee)—for non-compliance with existing regulations and recommendations made by regulators, as reported by Radio Free Asia.
It is not known when the license was withdrawn. The NBC did not respond to multiple requests for clarification.
Huione Group provides various financial and cryptocurrency-related services in Cambodia, primarily targeting Chinese-speaking clients. Huione Group entities have received at least $89 billion in cryptocurrencies to date, according to a report from Elliptic.
Its subsidiary Huione Pay operates multiple physical branches across the country, offering banking services as well as over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading, both in-office and through its banking app. One of the firm's directors is Hun To, the cousin of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
The conglomerate faced significant scrutiny last year due to the activities of another of its subsidiaries, Haowang Guarantee. The marketplace, which operates a service linking vendors and clients through Telegram channels, has processed more than $24 billion in crypto transactions through its wallets, according to Elliptic.
Among the services vendors offer on its platform are crypto off-ramping, money laundering and technical support for creating fake investment websites.
Additionally, it has facilitated equipment sales for scam operations throughout the region which conduct gambling, investment, and pig butchering scams.
Huione has consistently denied wrongdoing and distanced itself from transactions enabled by its platforms.
In response to the report of it losing its license, Huione Pay accused Radio Free Asia of "disseminating misinformation" and engaging in "malicious slander” in a notice posted on its Telegram channel. The company emphasised that its current business activities don’t require a banking license, and attributed the regulatory action to interference by unnamed adversaries.
Huione Pay reassured customers of its continuing international expansion, highlighting the growth of its blockchain services in Japan, South Korea, and North America, and a shift towards decentralised wallets to provide customers with enhanced services.
It then advertised its procurement services for suppliers and buyers of construction materials and hotel supplies.
Huione Group has indeed been diversifying, establishing projects like the Huione Foundation, blockchain Xone (formerly Huione Chain), and Huione Crypto. It has also launched several tokens, including a USD stablecoin and a native token for the Xone blockchain.
Huione additionally has registered companies in Hong Kong, Poland, Canada and Singapore, and previously had two businesses registered in Australia.
Xone
Huione Foundation-backed Xone launched its blockchain this month. Representatives have spoken at several crypto events and spaces and, most recently, Xone claimed to have been a speaker at Consensus.
Consensus did not respond to a request to confirm this but Xone does not appear on the speaker list. Xone did not respond to a request for confirmation.
It also presented a press release from the website of Cointelegraph Japan on its X account and thanked the outlet for “coverage”. Press releases distributed on Cointelegraph come with a disclaimer that states the outlet does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the press releases.
Xone said it was honoured to be featured as a notable public chain, despite having written the content itself.
The people working day-to-day on Xone are not named on its website, though social media posts have made references to a COO using the name “Altman” or “Mr. Altman”, and it has promoted influencers serving as “ambassadors” of the company.
Representatives also appeared on an X Spaces session hosted by Sunpump, a Tron-based memecoin launchpad, on Feb. 27, where Xone was represented by an “ambassador”.