SEA Daily Brief: Treasury Sanctions a $24 Billion Golden Triangle Scam Marketplace, Malaysia's Data-Centre Task Force Passes 40 Applications, and Finmo Tops $1 Billion a Month

Treasury Sanctions Xinbi Guarantee, a $24 Billion Marketplace Behind Southeast Asia's Scam Compounds

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on September 9 designated Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language online marketplace, as a significant transnational criminal organization, alongside two entities that supported its operations: Anwen Technology Co., Ltd., a Cambodia-based developer of the XinbiPay digital wallet (also marketed as NewPay), and SafeW Technology Co., Ltd., a Singapore-based developer of the SafeW messaging app. Treasury said the marketplace processed the equivalent of over $24 billion in digital assets and fiat currency since around 2022, connecting scam syndicates operating out of the Golden Triangle region spanning Myanmar, Thailand and Laos with vendors selling stolen data, fake identity documents and cash-out services, settling primarily in the USDT stablecoin on the TRON blockchain. The action coordinated with the Department of Justice's Scam Center Strike Force, which the same day seized infrastructure and digital-asset wallets tied to Xinbi.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "scam centers in Southeast Asia steal billions of dollars from American victims each year" and that the administration "will continue using its tools to disrupt the networks behind this egregious fraud." The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had separately sanctioned Xinbi in March, making the US action the second country-level designation against the marketplace. Treasury's designation named 52 cryptocurrency addresses on TRON as blocked property.

Malaysia's Data Centre Task Force Fields Over 40 Applications as H1 Approvals Hit RM95.8 Billion

Malaysia's Data Centre Task Force has received more than 40 applications this year from companies seeking to build or expand data-centre operations in the country, Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin said on September 14 while delivering a keynote on behalf of Minister Johari Abdul Ghani at the Malaysian Investment Development Authority's Data Centre Nexus 2026 conference in Kuala Lumpur, according to The Star. Approved investment in the data-centre and cloud-computing sub-sector reached RM95.8 billion in the first half of 2026 — 44% of all approved investment across every sector in the country — and cumulative data-centre-related investment approvals have reached RM385.7 billion since 2021, out of RM218.5 billion in total approved investment across all sectors in H1 2026.

The conference, themed "Advancing AI-Driven Digital Infrastructure & Sustainable Ecosystems," drew more than 400 participants including hyperscalers, cloud service providers, colocation operators and Malaysian equipment suppliers. In his remarks, the ministry framed the next phase of policy around what the built capacity delivers — AI adoption, domestic innovation and higher-value jobs — rather than further headline approval totals.

Singapore's Finmo Tops $1 Billion in Monthly Transactions, Opens Larger HQ for an AI Liquidity Agent

Singapore-founded treasury-management platform Finmo said on September 9 that businesses now move more than $1 billion through its TreasuryOS platform every month, and that it has opened a larger Singapore headquarters at Suntec City — a 50% increase in office capacity — to support further hiring and product development, according to Fintech News Singapore. Finmo holds 11 licenses across eight markets, connects to more than 11,000 banks, and has more than doubled its local headcount since obtaining a Major Payment Institution licence in 2023. The company raised an $18.5 million Series A round in February 2025.

Co-founder and CEO David Hanna said the company remains cash-flow positive while expanding globally, and pointed to a product under development called MO AI, an AI agent intended to help finance teams identify risks, anticipate liquidity needs and evaluate financial options automatically rather than through manual treasury review.

Eyes on the Day Ahead

Watch for further detail on how Malaysia's Data Centre Task Force will condition approvals as it works through its 2026 application backlog, and for any follow-on designations tied to the Xinbi Guarantee network as the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force continues processing seized infrastructure and wallets.