Something big just happened in Phnom Penh.

Late at night on December 1, a payment platform called Huiwang suddenly posted an announcement: operations suspended, payouts delayed. This platform had once promised an 18% annualized return, attracting a huge influx of funds—the problem is, most of this money came from illegitimate sources.

What’s the most ironic part? All those people around the world who got rich through scams have now become victims themselves. They poured their ill-gotten gains (mainly USDT) into Huiwang to earn interest, and when the platform collapsed, it’s said that $5 to $10 billion worth of USDT was instantly frozen.

This triggered a chain reaction. Within 24 hours, the price of USDT dropped from 1.000 to 0.997, wiping nearly $2 billion off its market cap. OTC trading premiums vanished overnight, and panic selling hit the order books on major exchanges—this wasn’t normal market volatility, but a collective explosion of the black money supply chain.

With sanctions from the UN, US, and UK, plus the Cambodian government revoking the license, the grey industry chain was crushed on all sides. Those holding tainted USDT dumped it in a frenzy to cash out, causing stablecoins to depeg by 0.3%-0.5%.

Even more surreal, the scammers who once fleeced others have now been cleaned out themselves, principal and interest gone. Now there are crowds lining up in Phnom Penh, crying: “Where’s my 18% return?”

This depegging may be just the beginning.