Authorities supported by Europol have taken down a major crypto launderer and seized 1,909 Bitcoin worth almost $50 million.
Europol announced through a press release that they had dismantled ChipMixer, one of the world’s largest crypto mixers. During the operation, the agencies seized the Bitcoin, four servers, and seven terabytes of data.
ChipMixer Facilitated Laundering
According to Europol, ChipMixer has operated since 2017 and has facilitated the laundering of 152,000 Bitcoin (approx. $3.69 billion.) Lastly, the press release reads, “A large share of this is connected to darkweb markets, ransomware groups, illicit goods trafficking, procurement of child sexual exploitation material, and stolen crypto assets.”
It was a joint operation that involved Europol and agencies from Belgium, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the United States.
According to an old tweet from the on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, the FTX hackers transferred funds to the OKX exchange through ChipMixer. A crypto mixer is an external service that can obfuscate the data linking an address to crypto transfers. It can be used by those willing to keep the on-chain transactions private.
In January, Europol and Eurojust dismantled a crypto fraud network and seized over $1 million in cryptocurrencies and €50,000 in cash. They arrested 15 people operating from Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Serbia.
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