Europol and German-Swiss police have dismantled bitcoin mixer Cryptomixer and seized €25 million worth of BTC, 12 TB of user data and core infrastructure used to launder criminal money.
Summary
- In an operation in Zurich between November 24 and 28, servers were seized, the Cryptomixer domain was taken over and replaced with a banner for seizure by law enforcement authorities.
- Since 2016, Cryptomixer has allegedly laundered the proceeds of ransomware, dark web markets, fraud, drug and arms trafficking by concealing bitcoin flows.
- Europol coordinated the action through its Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce, building on previous crackdowns on mixers, such as the dismantling of the ChipMixer in 2023.
Europol announced the dismantling of a major European bitcoin mixing service in a coordinated operation with German and Swiss law enforcement authorities, resulting in the seizure of approximately €25 million worth of bitcoin and more than 12 terabytes of user data.
The operationcarried out between November 24 and 28 in Zurich, targeted Cryptomixer, a platform that authorities said facilitated money laundering of the proceeds from various criminal activities, according to a Europol statement.
Cryptomixer targeted by Europol for money laundering
Researchers seized servers, took control of the Cryptomixer domain, and replaced the site with an official law enforcement seizure banner during the weeklong operation, which received continued support from Europol.
The platform has operated since its launch in 2016 as a hybrid mixing service accessible on both the traditional web and the dark web and handles a significant volume of bitcoin, Europol reports.
Law enforcement authorities stated that the platform has become an infrastructure for digital criminals, who launder large amounts of illicit funds linked to ransomware groups, dark web markets and fraud organizations. According to the report, the mixer was heavily used by ransomware groups, underground cybercrime forums and operators operating on dark web marketplaces.
The platform’s software collected deposits over extended and random periods of time before redistributing the funds to new addresses designed to break transaction traceability, authorities said. According to law enforcement, this method made it possible to conceal the proceeds from drug trafficking, arms trafficking, payment card fraud and cyber attacks.
Europol coordinated intelligence sharing through its Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce and provided forensic specialists during the operations. The agency has participated in several anti-mixing operations in recent years, including the dismantling of ChipMixer in March 2023, which authorities described at the time as the largest agency of its kind.
