A massive takedown was done by Telegram that effectively shut down two massive black markets that are operating in its instant messaging platform that have already generated $35 billion collectively.

These two notorious black-market operations have centered on selling stolen data and information, as well as offering services to launder cryptocurrency.

A blockchain research firm, Elliptic, revealed that two Chinese-language markets namely the Xinbi Guarantee and the Huione Guarantee have been taken down on Telegram and were banned from operating in the platform. The report claimed that the combined operations of both Chinese-language black markets have already generated a whopping $35 billion for their illicit services.

Huione Guarantee, one of the markets taken down, has already confirmed that it is ceasing its massive operations after the shutdown from Telegram after amassing a total of $27 billion since it went online in 2021.

Telegram also announced the ban against these two black market entities on their platform earlier today, and it is regarded as a massive deterrent against online fraudsters, with the US Treasury also planning to ban the Huione Group from the country's financial system earlier this month.

Both large black markets were revealed to have earned their revenue from their illicit services that sell stolen data and information from unknown users and for unknown reasons.

Telegram's take down is reportedly not related to the US Treasury's concern but because of an inquiry into the web's largest black market that operates crypto laundering activities.

Telegram may have been one of the rising stars that was touted as the alternative to Meta's WhatsApp, but the platform was also a controversial one over the years. Its CEO and founder, Pavel Durov, recently revealed during an interview that Telegram's massive operations only had 30 engineers and him as the product manager, with this raising massive questions about its security.

Last year, the Russian tech mogul faced an immediate arrest upon his landing at Paris's Bourget Airport, where he was served a warrant for Telegram's lack of content moderation. It was revealed that Telegram has been used by many threat actors for online fraud, terrorist organizations, extremist groups, cryptocurrency laundering, and more, which the platform failed to prevent.

There have also been complaints about Telegram group chats or channels that are spreading alleged sensitive content, ranging from personal information down to harmful content and sexual materials.