LOGO_CRYPTO_SIGHT

$200 Million Cryptocurrency Tumbler Bestmixer.io Seized by Europol

| 25-Th5-2019
thecryptosight-200-million-cryptocurrency-tumbler-bestmixer-io-seized-by-europol
$200 Million Cryptocurrency Tumbler Bestmixer.io Seized by Europol

An operation jointly conducted by Europol, Dutch and Luxembourg governments have successfully taken down one of the biggest European-based cryptocurrency tumblers – Bestmixer.io.

A crypto tumbler – or crypto mixing service – is a service offered to mix potentially identifiable or ‘tainted’ cryptocurrency funds with others, so as to make it hard to trace the trail back to the fund’s original source.

Per the report, a total of 6 servers of Bestmixer.io have been seized by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), to investigate money laundering and illegal financing charges against it.

thecryptosight-200-million-cryptocurrency-tumbler-bestmixer-io-seized-by-europol1

Bestmixer.io ranked in the top spots of the list when it comes to mixing services for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), litecoin (LTC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and others. It has also reportedly reached a turnover of at least $200 million since when it officially offer its services in May last year.

Europol, FIOD and the Luxembourg authorities have previously started an operation to look into Bestmixer.io activities in June 2018, and have come to the decision to seize the platform now, as a significant amount of mixed coins in Bestmixer.io’s possession was the result of illegal acts, which was then used to facilitate money laundering or illegal financing.

According to Europol, the shutdown of Bestmixer.io was the first legal enforcing attempt to attack a cryptocurrency tumbler. As of now, the official website of Bestmixer.io is out of service, with a seizure notice by the FIOD, along with the line “you are not anonymous”.

thecryptosight-200-million-cryptocurrency-tumbler-bestmixer-io-seized-by-europol2

The FIOD has managed to gather all related documents and information of the tumbler, including chat messages, bitcoin addresses, IP-addresses and more. These dates will be placed under thorough analysis and the results will be widely shared among nations.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments