Swiss, German authorities shut down cryptomixer.io in money laundering crackdown

FRANKFURT, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A group of Swiss and German law enforcement agencies said on Monday they shut down cryptomixer.io, one of the largest platforms to cover up the tracks of bitcoin transfers from illegal activities.

Germany's federal investigation agency BKA said in a statement it worked with regional prosecutors in Frankfurt as well as authorities in Zurich to shut down the cryptomixer.io site on Wednesday last week.

It added that Cryptomixer.io, started in 2016, had been one of the largest bitcoin mixers with billions of euros in revenues, most of which were gained from criminal activities.

Cryptomixing is a service to anonymise crypto transactions by breaking them up and mixing them with other funds.

Under the operation, which was led by Zurich law enforcement agencies, authorities seized servers in Switzerland, along with the cryptomixer.io internet domain, and confiscated over 12 terabytes of data and Bitcoins worth more than 25 million euros ($29 million).

"The findings will also contribute to the investigation of further cybercrimes," said BKA, adding that Europol, as well as agencies of the European Union and the U.S., were involved in the investigation.

Europol said in a separate statement that Cryptomixer.io, suspected of facilitating cybercrime, including ransomware schemes and money laundering, was accessible both on the regular web and the dark web.

($1 = 0.8598 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Thomas Seythal)

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