European cops shut down cryptocurrency mixing site that helped launder €1.3 billion

A coalition of law enforcement agencies coordinated by Europol announced on Monday the shutdown of cryptocurrency laundering service Cryptomixer.

Europol confirmed the seizure in a press releasewhere he called Cryptomixer “the platform of choice for cybercriminals seeking to launder the proceeds of a variety of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, arms trafficking, ransomware attacks, and payment card fraud.”

Since 2016, Europol said, Cryptomixer has facilitated the laundering of 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in Bitcoin.

Hackers and other criminals use laundering services like Cryptomixer to obfuscate and hide the origin of their cryptocurrency. By design, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are built on public blockchains that allow law enforcement, as well as blockchain intelligence companies like Chainalysis and Elliptic, to follow money over time.

Authorities said they seized 25 million euros ($29 million) in Bitcoin, along with three servers, 12 terabytes of data and the official domain cryptomixer.iowhich now displays the usual law enforcement seizure page.

According to Europol, the site “facilitated the obfuscation of criminal funds for ransomware groups, shadow economy forums and dark web markets” and claimed that its software “blocked the traceability of funds on the blockchain”.

“Deposited funds from various users were pooled for a long and random period before being redistributed to destination addresses, again at random times. As many digital currencies provide a public ledger of all transactions, mixing services make it difficult to trace specific coins, thus obscuring the origin of cryptocurrencies,” Europol said.

Cryptomixer offered clients anonymity, such as providing cover to cybercriminals who wanted to launder their cryptographic details before taking the funds to legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges. Europol said the “cleaned” cryptocurrency could be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or fiat cash.

Over the years, authorities have shut down or sanctioned many similar services, such as Tornado Cash, ChipMixerand more.

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