Cryptomixer, a cryptocurrency mixing service allegedly used by cybercriminals to launder illicit bitcoins has been dismantled in a coordinated police operation in Zurich, the European Union (EU) police agency Europol said on Monday.
The takedown, carried out from November 24 to 28 by Swiss and German police together with Europol, resulted in the seizure of three servers, the domain cryptomixer.io, more than 25 million euros ($29 million) in bitcoins and more than 12 terabytes of data.
Authorities said Cryptomixer has facilitated more than €1.3 billion in bitcoin laundering since 2016. Its long settlement periods and random distribution patterns made it a preferred tool for hiding profits from drug trafficking, arms sales, ransomware attacks and payment card fraud, they said.
Cryptocurrency mixers are services that pool and redistribute user funds to hide their origin. While mixers claim to offer privacy, they are also popular as laundering tools for ransomware gangs, dark web markets, and other cybercriminals.
By breaking the trail of on-chain transactions, mixers allow cryptocurrencies whose provenance cannot be traced to be sent to exchanges and converted into other assets or fiat money. High-profile examples include Tornado Cash, whose operators were sanctioned and prosecuted for allowing billions in illicit flows.
Europol supported the dismantling through forensic analysis and coordination, marking another major closure of the mixer following its role in the 2023 Operation ChipMixer, the agency said in the announcement.
