77: Crypto Authoritarianism: Cambodia's Blueprint for Power
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In the heart of Southeast Asia, an unassuming platform named Huione Guarantee has quietly become the epicenter of a vast criminal empire. Imagine a government not just turning a blind eye but actively capitalizing on this operation, embedding cybercrime into its governing strategy. Cambodia’s Hun family has achieved this chilling reality, intertwining state power with a platform that moves billions in illicit funds. They’ve created a single platform, leveraging technology to industrialize cybercrime, becoming a lynchpin of the global criminal economy.
Huione Guarantee began as a marketplace ostensibly designed for neutral online transactions. Yet, it has evolved into a sprawling enabler of cybercrime. The platform’s services include:
Money Laundering: Facilitating the conversion of illicit funds from scams, such as "pig butchering" schemes and sextortion, into cash, stablecoins, or credits on Chinese payment apps.
Infrastructure for Scams: Creating fraudulent investment websites mimicking crypto platforms.
Sale of Personal Data and Deepfake Tools: Enabling scammers to target victims with precision.
Control Tools: Alarmingly, the sale of detention equipment used to prevent escapes from scam operations.
Cryptocurrency wallets tied to Huione Guarantee have processed over $11 billion since 2021. Much of this revenue is reportedly linked to illicit activities. The platform’s operators, profit not only financially but politically, consolidating power through fear and patronage.
The Hun family’s ties to Huione Guarantee are direct. Figures such as Hun To, a cousin of Prime Minister Hun Manet, have been implicated in the platform’s operations. Other influential allies of the family, such as Kok An and Ly Yong Phat, have faced allegations of involvement in forced labor and online scams, revealing a systemic exploitation of human and technological resources to fund their regime.
The Hun family’s approach to cybercrime is not merely a means of financial enrichment but a broader strategy to exert influence. By embedding criminal operations into the state’s fabric, they create a hybrid apparatus of governance and illegality. This model—one that turns a blind eye to international norms while exploiting global financial systems—has begun to attract imitators.
The Trump Family and Crypto
The Trump family’s embrace of cryptocurrency, coupled with their normalization of financial opacity, bears a striking resemblance to the Hun model. During Donald Trump’s presidency and its aftermath, the family consistently aligned with crypto proponents, advocating for reduced regulation and increased adoption of digital currencies.
This approach paves the way for a potential American iteration of the Cambodian template:
Institutionalizing Crypto-Friendly Policies: The Trump family has backed efforts to deregulate crypto, mirroring Cambodia’s use of stablecoins like Tether in illicit transactions.
Building Alliances with Questionable Actors: Just as the Hun family has integrated criminal enterprises into its governance, the Trumps’ business dealings reveal a pattern of associations with controversial figures and opaque networks.
Reaping Political Dividends: A crypto-driven financial system allows for the circumvention of traditional oversight mechanisms, creating opportunities to entrench political and economic power.
The Infrastructure of Global Criminal Economies
Huione Guarantee’s ascent reflects a broader trend: the industrialization of crime as a core component of governance in authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian regimes. The platform’s ability to exploit loopholes in global financial systems (circumventing oversight and sanctions) underscores the complicity of international actors who fail to address these gaps. Meanwhile, its role in the human trafficking ecosystem highlights the human cost of such enterprises, where profits are extracted through exploitation and coercion.
As Huione Guarantee continues to grow, it becomes emblematic of the new age of power—one where crime and authority are indistinguishable. The implications are stark: governments using cybercrime not just as a sideline but as a pillar of statecraft.
The rise of platforms like Huione Guarantee signals a dangerous evolution in the relationship between governance and illicit economies. Cambodia’s ruling family has perfected a model that is both lucrative and deeply destabilizing. As the Trump family and other actors explore similar paths, the global stakes grow higher. This is not just about the erosion of law and order; it’s about the redefinition of authority itself, where the tools of crime become the levers of power.
Learning Mandarin and Solidarity on Red Note
The last 24 hours on Red Note have been a wild ride (we’re @metaviews there). Rather than write about it, we’ll share some TikToks that offer a kind of narrative arc for your viewing pleasure (posts from Red Note don’t embed yet). They’re offered without further commentary, however the first one is kind of the spark that set it off.
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Finally, this is a great overview of the Red Note ToS
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