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Europol Authorities Bust $1.4B Cryptomixer, Seizing $27M and 12TB of User Data

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Europol and regulation enforcement businesses in Germany and Switzerland have shut down one of Europe’s largest illicit crypto-mixing operations, seizing €25 million ($27 million) in Bitcoin and confiscating greater than 12 terabytes of person knowledge.

The takedown, announced on December 1, marks one of probably the most intensive actions but below the EU’s ongoing effort to dismantle providers that obscure the circulation of felony funds.

Six-Year-Old Crypto Laundering Service Taken Offline

The operation occurred between November 24 and 28 in Zurich, with Europol supporting authorities on the bottom all through the motion week.

Investigators seized three servers, took management of the cryptomixer(dot)io area, and changed the positioning with a law-enforcement seizure banner.

According to Europol, the platform, often known as “Cryptomixer,” functioned as a hybrid mixing service on each the clear net and the darkish net.

Since its launch in 2016, the service has processed greater than €1.3 billion in Bitcoin linked to a variety of criminal activity.

Authorities say the mixer was used closely by ransomware teams, underground cybercrime boards, and operators on dark-web markets.

Source: Europol

Its software program pooled deposits for lengthy, randomized intervals, then redistributed funds to new addresses designed to interrupt transaction trails.

This technique helped conceal proceeds of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, payment-card fraud, and cyberattacks, permitting criminals to transform “cleaned” property again into different cryptocurrencies or fiat forex via exchanges, ATMs, and financial institution accounts.

Europol coordinated intelligence sharing via its Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce and offered forensic specialists in the course of the raids.

The company has been concerned in a number of main anti-mixing operations lately, together with the March 2023 takedown of ChipMixer, then the biggest service of its form.

The shutdown comes because the EU tightens its anti-money-laundering framework forward of main regulatory deadlines. Under new AML guidelines tied to MiCA, crypto-mixing providers are banned throughout the bloc, and anonymity-enhancing cash reminiscent of Monero and Zcash might be prohibited by 2027.

Crypto-asset service suppliers are required to use strict KYC checks, determine the sender and receiver of all transfers, and conduct enhanced due diligence on transactions above €1,000.

These measures goal to shut regulatory gaps which have traditionally allowed laundering networks to function throughout borders with minimal oversight.

Europol Leads Wave of Digital Crime Takedowns as Mixer Scrutiny Grows

The enforcement local weather round mixers has intensified globally. In January 2025, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted three Russian nationals accused of operating Blender(dot)io and its successor, Sinbad(dot)io, mixers the Department of Justice says have been utilized by the North Korean Lazarus Group.

In November, a New York courtroom sentenced Samourai Wallet co-developer Keonne Rodriguez to five years in prison after prosecutors stated the service laundered greater than $237 million in illicit funds.

The ruling has accelerated scrutiny of privacy-focused and non-custodial crypto instruments.

Notably, Samourai Wallet’s chief expertise officer, William Lonergan Hill, was also sentenced to four years in federal prison for his position within the mixer actions.

The Cryptomixer takedown additionally arrives throughout one of Europol’s most energetic enforcement years within the digital-crime ecosystem.

In October, European investigators dismantled a cybercrime syndicate accountable for creating more than 49 million fake online accounts.

The community offered short-term SIM-based telephone numbers that allowed criminals to bypass two-factor authentication and mass-produce fraudulent identities used to take advantage of exchanges, banks, and e-commerce platforms.

Seven suspects have been arrested, and a whole bunch of SIM servers and routers have been seized.

Earlier in June, Europol led raids against Archetyp Market, one of the darkish net’s longest-running drug marketplaces.

Authorities seized core infrastructure within the Netherlands and arrested suspects throughout Europe, although consultants famous that operators usually regroup on decentralized platforms.

The put up Europol Authorities Bust $1.4B Cryptomixer, Seizing $27M and 12TB of User Data appeared first on Cryptonews.

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