Cryptomixer, a cryptocurrency mixing service allegedly used by cybercriminals to launder illicit bitcoins was dismantled during a coordinated operation by law enforcement in Zurich, the European Union (EU) police agency Europol announced on Monday.
The dismantling, carried out from November 24 to 28 by Swiss and German police alongside Europol, resulted in the seizure of three servers, the cryptomixer.io domain, more than 25 million euros ($29 million) in bitcoins and more than 12 terabytes of data.
Authorities said Cryptomixer facilitated the laundering of more than €1.3 billion in bitcoin since 2016. Its long settlement windows and random distribution models made it a favored tool for hiding proceeds from drug trafficking, arms sales, ransomware attacks and payment card fraud, they said.
Crypto mixers are services that pool and redistribute user funds to disguise their origin. Although mixers claim to offer privacy, they are also popular as laundering tools for ransomware gangs, dark web marketplaces, and other cybercriminals.
By breaking the path of on-chain transactions, mixers allow cryptocurrencies whose provenance cannot be traced to be sent to exchanges and converted into other assets or fiat. Among the most high-profile examples is Tornado Cash, whose operators were sanctioned and prosecuted for enabling illicit flows of billions of dollars.
Europol supported the removal through forensic analysis and coordination, marking another major shutdown of the mixer following its role in the 2023 Operation ChipMixer, the agency said in the statement.
