Encryption and AI: The Secret Digital Black Market of Xianyu

Author: Umbrella\Lao Da, Deep Tide TechFlow

Searching for "USDT" on Xianyu yields a blank page. But changing the keyword to "selling USD coins" instantly reveals a hidden digital black market.

Sellers use various homophones, code words, and images to circumvent platform supervision. "Those who know, know" is the common code here. Some hide contact information in the corners of images, while others directly post screenshots of exchange logos to prove they are "insiders."

In the public context, highly sensitive and strictly restricted crypto assets haven't truly disappeared; instead, they've been disguised and folded into a more underground platform.

“Buying and selling USDT,” “Step-by-step guidance on downloading exchange apps,” “Passing exchange KYC with overseas ID cards,” “Binance Alpha tutorials”… almost a one-stop crypto trading guidance service can be found here.

The digital black market extends far beyond crypto-related content: discounted airfares, hotel bookings, popular restaurant locations, concert venue access, AI-generated soldier verification… On social media, a saying circulates: “You can buy almost anything on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace for secondhand goods).” This is not an exaggeration. In October 2025, the official digital identity account of the Republic of Palau, X account, unusually used Chinese to publish an announcement. "Recently, it has been discovered that some individuals are publicly displaying counterfeit Palau ID documents on social media and using them to bypass the KYC verification process on various platforms. This behavior constitutes serious identity fraud," RNS.ID officially announced. They will implement a second verification process for all Palau ID users using Chinese pinyin. Users who fail verification will be marked as fraud targets and their information will be synchronized with the global fraud database. Why did the government of this Pacific island nation specifically issue a Chinese announcement? The answer lies in the search results on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace). Entering keywords such as "overseas identity" and "Palau ID" reveals an underground network for trading fake documents. Prices range from tens to hundreds of yuan, with a promise of "100% verification by major exchanges." Besides Palau, documents from Dominica, Nigeria, and the Philippines are also popular items. The quality of these fake documents is constantly improving; sellers offer customization services, using the buyer's real photo to create fake documents that pass facial recognition. In addition to selling fake documents for KYC purposes, the cryptocurrency black market on Xianyu offers many zero-cost virtual services. On Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace), an account named "Shenzhen Xiaoxia" once offered a 30-minute tutorial on downloading and installing Binance EOS for 10 yuan. (Note: This service has since been removed.) "Xiaoxia" is no unknown figure; in the crypto world, he's a household name, a top-tier KOL. Just recently, news of his purchase of a top-tier luxury apartment in Shenzhen, CITIC Xinyue Bay, despite incurring a debt of 60 million yuan, was still widely circulated in the industry. Why would a cryptocurrency tycoon with a net worth of hundreds of millions personally run a "customer service" business on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace) for 10 yuan per order? The 10 yuan tuition fee is just bait; the real income comes from referral commissions. Every user who registers through his link will generate a share of his transaction fees in the future. An active user could potentially generate hundreds or even thousands of yuan in revenue per month. This 10 yuan business is a very low-cost fishing rod. At the other end of the rod is a huge, sustainably monetizable pool of traffic. If "Xiaoxia's" business is an open strategy, then many other sellers are operating on the walls of information asymmetry, engaging in a more purely "secret" business. A product priced at 88 yuan, titled "Binance Alpha Beginner's Tutorial," offers one-on-one online lessons, promising "hands-on training, worry-free and effortless." The so-called "Alpha" typically refers to activities offered by platforms like Binance, allowing users to earn potential airdrop rewards by completing tasks. The methods for participating in these activities are already an open secret on platforms like YouTube and Google, with countless bloggers sharing detailed guides for free. However, for most domestic users, this wall, constructed by language barriers, network environment, and information channels, is a real barrier. One buyer commented, "The seller is very helpful; it's much easier than figuring it out yourself." The digital trading of cryptocurrencies is at most a small "dark room" within the confines of Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace), but the trading of AI is a truly vast, nationwide "digital arsenal." When names like ChatGPT and Claude exploded globally, an invisible wall rose with them. Complex registration processes, network barriers, and credit card payment obstacles kept the vast majority of curious Chinese users out. They could see the dazzling fireworks of a new world, but couldn't find the entrance. Xianyu, unexpectedly, became that unofficial path around that high wall. The "arms dealers" here offer a full range of services from beginner to expert. The most basic product is an "account"—a pre-registered GPT or Claude account, priced from tens to hundreds of yuan, with subsequent monthly top-up services provided. What are the most popular overseas AI applications and large-scale models on the market? Just look at Xianyu (a second-hand marketplace platform). In 2025, when the AI ​​application Manus, now acquired by Meta for $2 billion, emerged, beta testing codes were extremely scarce. On Xianyu, the price of beta codes skyrocketed from a few hundred yuan to thousands or even tens of thousands overnight, with some even listing them for a staggering "100,000 yuan," which propelled Manus's influence beyond its initial niche. Currently, the most popular AI products on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace) are Gemini and ChatGPT. The $20 monthly subscription fee for the premium version is enough to dampen the enthusiasm of many ordinary people. However, Google offers a free year for college students, and OpenAI has launched a benefit program for US veterans and active-duty military personnel, offering a free year of ChatGPT Plus. This small act of goodwill has been developed into a large-scale business by a group of astute sellers on Xianyu. Searching for "soldier" on Xianyu reveals a peculiar cyberpunk landscape. Product covers feature various cartoon soldiers or tough-guy images, and product names are filled with coded language: "Soldier helped!", "Soldier one-year plus finished account," with prices ranging from a few yuan to tens of yuan. A user on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace for secondhand goods) posted on social media: “Xianyu is currently the largest AI training base in the Chinese-speaking world. Without Xianyu, most Chinese people wouldn't have access to top-tier international AI models.” This statement is contradictory yet incredibly true. Xianyu, a platform originally for trading secondhand goods, has inadvertently become the “enlightener” and “popularizer” of top-tier international AI models in China. Buying Everything Whether it's encrypted transactions or AI services, this is still just the tip of the iceberg of Xianyu's digital black market. "Humans have only explored less than one percent of Xianyu," some commented, calling Xianyu the Chinese version of the dark web. The "darkness" of Xianyu doesn't just refer to black things, but more to absurdity; a large number of shady, underground industries rarely seen in real life have taken root on the platform. Some products are so abstract, even absurd, that they become a source of amusement on social media. What can workers do if they encounter malicious wage arrears? Someone found low-cost legal aid on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace), but unexpectedly, the seller sent over eighty elderly women to fight the case. They cried, made a scene, and even threatened suicide, and the wages arrived in three days. Someone else wanted to get a refund for their plane ticket and sought help on Xianyu, only to receive a "death certificate" instead. On Xianyu, what we see is not just demand and transactions, but perhaps the most authentic field survey in the Chinese internet. In this field, the most vigorous "wild wisdom" grows. It doesn't follow the elegant rules of the business world, but only believes in "solving problems" as its highest principle. When formal channels cannot meet demand or are too costly, grassroots creativity bursts forth in a raw, even darkly humorous way. Xianyu's digital black market presents a true slice of contemporary Chinese society. Here, there's no glamorous brand packaging, but rather the most authentic slice of human nature: speculation, opportunism, laziness, despair, and the instinct to survive in the cracks of the rules. However, when the path to solving problems slips into deeper gray areas, the object of the transaction reaches its end: the person themselves. If hiring an old lady is renting out "someone else's performance," then the most dangerous business on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace) is renting out "your own identity." "New users for sale, exchange," "Stable buyback of exchange accounts, KYC verified, long-term cooperation," "Looking for new users to register via QR code"... these kinds of advertisements blatantly package and sell a person's KYC identity in the digital world. The sellers' rhetoric is extremely tempting; some package this behavior as "digital-age landlords," misleading users into believing they are simply revitalizing "idle assets" and easily achieving "passive income." However, an account rented or sold by a novice could potentially become a tool for telecom fraud and money laundering gangs. From buying a tutorial to buying an account; from hiring someone to solve your problems to renting yourself out to the problems themselves, this bizarre transaction chain ultimately forms a terrifying closed loop. We start by buying convenience with money, and eventually end up exchanging ourselves for money. This bizarre and chaotic digital landscape is both a form of "grassroots infrastructure" for ordinary people to bypass barriers and access resources, and a dark forest teeming with traps. It proves in the most extreme way that any suppressed need will not disappear; it will only emerge in corners untouched by rules, in a more primitive and dangerous way. Here, convenience and cost are priced equally. You might think you're taking a shortcut, only to discover that the end of that shortcut may also be a precipice.