German Authorities Shut Down ChipMixer on Suspicion of Laundering $2.9B Worth of Bitcoins
Law enforcement authorities bring down German-based server ChipMix alleged of laundering $2.9 billion worth of bitcoins.
German security agencies said on Wednesday that they have shut down the world’s largest money laundering service on the darknet. Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and Frankfurt’s attorney general’s office said it was a german-based server called ChipMixer, helping criminals to launder illicit gains using cryptocurrencies.
According to the security representatives, the server and bitcoins worth about €44 million ($46.6 million) were seized. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the attorney general’s office accused the service operator of operating commercial money laundering and a criminal trading platform on the darknet.
As the law agencies explained, the service, which has been in existence since 2017, allegedly received the digital currency bitcoin from criminal origin to disburse it after “mixing.”
The term “mixing” refers to the disruption of the traceability of the credit of crypto owners. The credit balances are selectively mixed with the transactions from the different senders, piecemealed, and sometimes transferred with a time delay.
However, in the current case involving ChipMixer, the service allegedly divided deposited cryptocurrencies into uniform micro-payments called “chips.” These small amounts of cryptocurrencies are said to have been subsequently commingled to hide the source of the money. The investors were allegedly promised complete anonymity by the operator.
German security agencies estimate that around €2.8 billion ($2.9 billion) worth of Bitcoins was laundered via ChipMixer, the investigators speak of the world’s largest money laundering amount from cryptoMixer on the darknet.
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