A coalition of law enforcement agencies coordinated by Europol announced the shuttering of the cryptocurrency laundering service Cryptomixer on Monday. In a press release, Europol called Cryptomixer the platform of choice for cybercriminals seeking to launder illegal proceeds from a variety of criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, ransomware attacks, and payment card fraud.
Since 2016, Cryptomixer facilitated the laundering of 1.3 billion euros, or approximately 1.5 billion US dollars, in bitcoin. Hackers and other criminals use laundering services like Cryptomixer to obfuscate and hide the origin of their cryptocurrency. While cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are built on public blockchains that allow transactions to be traced, mixing services are designed to break that trail.
Authorities seized 25 million euros, or about 29 million US dollars, in bitcoin, along with three servers, 12 terabytes of data, and the official domain cryptomixer.io. The site now displays a law enforcement seizure notice. According to Europol, the platform facilitated the obfuscation of criminal funds for ransomware groups, underground economy forums, and dark web markets. It claimed its software blocked the traceability of funds on the blockchain.
Europol explained that deposited funds from various users were pooled for a long and randomized period before being redistributed to destination addresses at random times. This process made it difficult to trace specific coins, thus concealing the origin of the cryptocurrency.
Cryptomixer offered customers anonymity, providing cover for cybercriminals who wanted to launder their crypto before moving the funds to legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges. Europol stated the cleaned cryptocurrency could then be swapped for other cryptocurrencies or traditional fiat cash.
Over the years, authorities have shut down or sanctioned several similar services, including Tornado Cash and Chipmixer.