"ChipMixer Crypto Laundromat Shut Down By German, US Authorities"

The cryptocurrency mixer known as ChipMixer has recently been targeted by a joint investigation led by German and US authorities with the support of Europol, Belgium, Poland, and Switzerland.  The anti-money-laundering operation took down ChipMixer infrastructure and seized four servers, 7TB of data, and 1909.4 Bitcoins (roughly $47.3m) in 55 transactions.  The authorities noted that most of the seized funds had connections with dark web markets, stolen crypto assets, ransomware groups, illicit goods trafficking, and procurement of child sexual exploitation material.  According to Europol ChipMixer, an unlicensed cryptocurrency mixer set up in mid-2017 specialized in mixing or cutting trails related to virtual currency assets.  Europol noted that the software developed by ChipMixer obfuscated the blockchain trail of the funds.  Cyber-criminals aiming at laundering illegal proceeds used the infrastructure to turn deposited funds into "chips" that were mixed and anonymized.  At the end of the process, the "cleaned" crypto can easily be exchanged into other cryptocurrencies or directly into FIAT currency through ATM or bank accounts.  Because of these features, Europol confirmed that several ransomware actors, including Zeppelin, SunCrypt, Mamba, Dharma, and Lockbit, have leveraged ChipMixer to launder ransom payments they had received.

Infosecurity reports: "ChipMixer Crypto Laundromat Shut Down By German, US Authorities"