Protests over Huione Pay escalate

Dozens of Huione Pay and H-Pay customers clashed with security outside the National Bank of Cambodia in Phnom Penh on April 27 after weeks of failed talks over frozen funds. (cambojanews.com) (straitstimes.com) CamboJA News reported that two Cambodian representatives of the customers were detained for questioning, while two Chinese customers suffered head injuries and were taken to a hospital. (cambojanews.com) The April 27 confrontation came after an April 24 protest outside the same central bank, where about 100 to 200 mostly Chinese creditors demanded access to money stuck in Huione Pay and H-Pay. (cambojanews.com) (kiripost.com) The National Bank of Cambodia said Huione Pay’s license had been revoked in September 2024, the company was removed from the commerce register on June 19, 2025, and former H-Pay’s license was revoked on March 20, 2026. (en.kampucheathmey.com) (kiripost.com) The bank said Huione Pay had been licensed only for payment services, not for taking deposits or issuing loans, and told claimants to pursue Huione Pay disputes through the courts. H-Pay creditors were directed to liquidator Reachs & Partners to file claims. (en.kampucheathmey.com) (cambojanews.com) The scale of the claims is one reason the protests have kept growing. The central bank said 1,297 claimants reported about $31 million and another $20 million in Tether, the dollar-linked cryptocurrency USDT. (en.kampucheathmey.com) Customers say the freeze has wrecked ordinary businesses. One woman told CamboJA she had $100,000 in Huione Pay, lost access in December 2025, pawned her house and land, and still could not pay 50 workers. (cambojanews.com) Another customer, construction business owner Wang Xijun, told AFP he had about $50,000 locked in H-Pay and had been unable to pay staff for around three months. (straitstimes.com) The case sits inside a wider crackdown on Huione Group. On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule cutting the Cambodia-based group off from the U.S. financial system after calling it a major money-laundering concern. (fincen.gov) (federalregister.gov) Chinese authorities have also moved against Huione leadership. The former Huione Group chairman, Li Xiong, was extradited from Cambodia to China on April 1, 2026, according to multiple reports cited by regional media. (straitstimes.com) (agbrief.com) For now, the central bank says the legal channels are clear and the street protests should stop. The customers gathering outside its gates are saying the money they used for payroll, construction and daily business still has not come back. (kiripost.com) (cambojanews.com)