Europol, in collaboration with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), has taken down the cryptocurrency mixing service ‘ChipMixer’.
The mixing platform has been used by cybercriminals to launder proceeds obtained through illicit means. ChipMixer has been one of the largest cryptocurrency mixing services on the dark web since 2017, enabling users to convert money into untraceable “chips”.
The police have seized four servers, 7TB of data, and $46.5 million worth of cryptocurrency, making this the largest seizure of cryptocurrency assets by the BKA to date.
Cryptocurrency mixing platforms, also known as “tumblers,” allow digital assets to be mixed between different wallets, enhancing the privacy and anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions. While these services can have legitimate use cases, they are largely used by cybercriminals seeking to evade identification and prosecution.
The Europol announcement stated that ChipMixer may have facilitated the laundering of 152,000 Bitcoins (worth roughly EUR 2.73 billion in current estimations) in crypto assets linked to dark web markets, ransomware groups, illicit goods trafficking, procurement of child sexual exploitation material, and stolen crypto assets.
Authorities found further ties between ChipMixer and illegal activity during an investigation into the dark web market Hydra, which was confiscated by the German police in April 2022. Ransomware groups such as LockBit, Zeppelin, SunCrypt, Mamba, and Dharma have confirmed using ChipMixer to launder their ransoms.
In addition, there are indications that ChipMixer was used to launder assets stolen from a large cryptocurrency exchange following its bankruptcy last year. The authorities have identified the primary operator of ChipMixer, and the FBI is on the manhunt to bring him to justice.
