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Swiss Illegal Cryptocurrency Mixing Service Shut Down (europa.eu) 39

Posted by BeauHD from the cease-and-desist dept.
Longtime Slashdot reader krouic shares a report from Europol: From November 24-28, 2025, Europol supported an action week conducted by law enforcement authorities from Switzerland and Germany in Zurich, Switzerland. The operation focused on taking down the illegal cryptocurrency mixing service Cryptomixer, which is suspected of facilitating cybercrime and money laundering. Three servers were seized in Switzerland, along with the cryptomixer.io domain. The operation resulted in the confiscation of over 12 terabytes of data and more than EUR 25 million worth of Bitcoin. After the illegal service was taken over and shut down, law enforcement placed a seizure banner on the website. Authorities allege that the mixing service laundered over 1.3 billion euros in bitcoin since 2016.

Swiss Illegal Cryptocurrency Mixing Service Shut Down More | Reply

Swiss Illegal Cryptocurrency Mixing Service Shut Down

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  • Color me curious.... (Score:3)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Monday December 01, 2025 @09:56PM (#65829309)

    What possible legal use does a "mixing service" provide?

    Crypto transactions are already almost entirely comprised of cash flows to support illegal activities. Help me understand why we should give a crap about the shutdown of a mixing service.

    Best,

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Crypto transactions can be traced back through the (public) blockchain. A service where you deposit some tainted crypto and then are handed an equal value of others (minus a service charge) makes tracing those new coins back to their (illicit) source very difficult.

      IOW, money laundering.

      • Can you think of legal uses where you deposit untainted crypto just because you want privacy? Should that be shut down because it's also used for money laundering? Are you attacking a symptom that has multiple causes, as if only one of the causes matters and screw the rest of the perfectly legal uses?

        • Can you think of legal uses where you deposit untainted crypto just because you want privacy? Should that be shut down because it's also used for money laundering? Are you attacking a symptom that has multiple causes, as if only one of the causes matters and screw the rest of the perfectly legal uses?

          I suspect it's about the ratio of illegal users to legitimate ones that made it a target. Assume the Swiss and Germans were able o track the incoming sources they could identify patterns of suspect transaction and thus decided to shut it down.

        • Our elected officials "craft" laws that determine what's illegal and legal. Some 501c3 lawyered think tank writes a bill, it gets passed at opportune times (ambulance chasing tragedies, omnibus bills..) then enforced selectively against people whom law enforcement/prosecutors wish to enforce it to. Then even worse, you get people in forums saying "what sort of legal uses does this have?" Karen type nanny state finger wagging. Tracing things back, its usually some crooked politicians together with politicall

        • There's a word for a person who would submit untainted coins to a tumbler without compensation (i.e, getting back more coins than they put in).

          That word is "sucker". Sure, there are many people who will tell you that it's a perfectly normal thing to give your money to a likely money launderer in the hopes of getting back the same amount, just for "privacy". They're hoping you'll do it. They're fishing for suckers.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by PPH ( 736903 )

          Can you think of legal uses where you deposit untainted crypto just because you want privacy?

          You can't have privacy as long as governments depend on taxes for their finances.

      • Unless you use a crypto that actually encrypts the blockchain [getmonero.org] in which case no mixing needed.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by PPH ( 736903 )

          What user would trust a crypto where they couldn't read the blockchain?

          The "Trust me, bro" coin?

    • Given that most Bitcoin investors are just speculative hobbyists, a mixing service is a fun toy! Kind of like when all the open source nerds signed their emails with public keys so strong encrypted email was a fun hobby and totally not a way for organized criminals to communicate.

      • Was Assange an organized criminal or a journalist?

      • Given that most Bitcoin investors are just speculative hobbyists, a mixing service is a fun toy! Kind of like when all the open source nerds signed their emails with public keys so strong encrypted email was a fun hobby and totally not a way for organized criminals to communicate.

        I suspect most of those speculative hobbyists aren't simply giving up a percentage of their holdings to use a fun toy; if you're speculating why give up a % of your return when you get no value from it? As for PGP and its ilk, there are probably a lot more legitimate users, which is why law enforcement used other means, such a taking over services clandestinely to be able to track organized crime; just like wiretaps allowed targeting suspected criminals without eliminating telephones. That's not to say go

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tom ( 822 )

      What possible legal use does a "mixing service" provide?

      Hiding money flow from public view. It is trivial to automatically trace all transfers on the blockchain. And the same way I don't post my banking history to the Internet, I have a reasonable need to not have all of my Bitcoin transactions fully transparent to everyone in the world.

      So tl;dr: The legal use is: Protect my privacy.

      That doesn't mean I am doing anything illegal. I might be doing something perfectly legal but socially controversial - maybe I make campaign contributions to the communist party, or

      • From public view? That's trivial. Deposit it in a bank, and pay your bills from it there. The public can't go in and see what you've spent money on.

        But you probably meant from the government's view, didnt you? That's called money laundering. The reason it's illegal is that if it weren't, the whole system that makes money practical and safe to use in your everyday dealings would come crashing down. Even faster than it already is, I mean. We would be back to blood feuds before you could blink.

    • Sorry, you're wrong. Only a small fraction of cryptocurrency transactions support illegal activities:

      https://www.chainalysis.com/bl... [chainalysis.com]

      "0.14% of total on-chain transaction volume"

  • Unregulated currency = money laundering.

    It's the only reason for Bitcoin to exist.

    Comparatively, nobody touches the regulated cryptocurrencies because... they don't facilitate money laundering.

    It's like cash in that respect. The only reason for any business to choose to deal exclusively in cash is to facilitate money-laundering. And all the big money laundering operations are usually hidden around cash-only businesses.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ebcdic ( 39948 )

      Money laundering - "It's the only reason for Bitcoin to exist". Nonsense. There's also fraud, extortion, tax evasion, and speculation.

  • If so, you should support tools that help you live a private life, free from oversight by governments and corporations. Privacy is effectively illegal today. Stories like this are part of your ongoing education to that fact.

    • Do you believe in a right to privacy of action? If I've murdered someone and taken their wallet, is that none of your business?

      Money is not speech. Money is action. Money is backed by obligations - public obligations. The only bilateral agreement is a gentleman's agreement. As soon as you need any kind of stronger agreement than that, you need a third party. And that can be a mafia don, or it can be your tribe's patriarch to wage blood feuds over you, or it can be a government.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by flink ( 18449 )

        Do you believe in a right to privacy of action? If I've murdered someone and taken their wallet, is that none of your business?

        Of course I do, and I'm thankful for that right every time I use the bathroom or visit the doctor. If an illegal action is going on, it's the job of the police to discover it and prove it occurred.

      • Right to privacy of action? I never heard of that phrase but I obviously do. What good is privacy if it does cover action? Money is money. I don't claim it to be anything else. Public obligations? Of what sort?

    • This is of course nonsense.

      You will never be free from oversight so long as you are using money. Nor should you be.

  • which is suspected of facilitating cybercrime and money laundering.. Isn't this ANY cryptocurrency service ?????

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