Cambodia’s Huione Pay, a core node of the Huione family of financial companies sanctioned by the United States, froze withdrawals on Monday and suspended operations for more than a month, triggering panic among users who rushed to its headquarters seeking deposits, local media reported.
Regulators and U.S. authorities have long warned that Huione’s operations are intertwined with money laundering and cryptocurrency-based fraud. Earlier this year, FinCEN cut off Huione Group’s connection with the U.S. financial system, and the Central Bank of Cambodia has revoked Huione Pay’s license.
According to previous reporting by CoinDesk, Elliptic found that Huione Pay and its Telegram-based marketplace Huioneguarantee processed up to $98 billion in illegal crypto transactions before shutting down in 2025. The transactions included funds from virtual currency scams, cyber robberies and North Korea-related money laundering.
Cryptocurrency exchange Upbit said in November that it closed more than 200 accounts linked to Huione after detecting suspicious flows of virtual assets and believing they were used for money laundering.
The company has reportedly rebranded Huione Pay as H-Pay as part of the relaunch process.
