Police take down ChipMixer service tied to stolen crypto from FTX, Axie Infinity hacks

ChipMixer, a cryptocurrency mixing service with ties to the hacks focusing on FTX and Axie Infinity, has been pulled offline by the FBI, Europol, and different worldwide authorities. In a press launch printed Wednesday, the Justice Division says authorities seized $46 million price of cryptocurrency together with the service’s domains and GitHub account.

Crypto mixing companies like ChipMixer make it tougher for third events, equivalent to regulation enforcement, to hint crypto transactions, as they funnel totally different funds right into a single pool of crypto earlier than splitting up every quantity and sending them to designated recipients. In line with regulation enforcement, not like crypto companies registered to function within the US, it naturally didn’t accumulate figuring out details about its customers, both. In line with the DOJ, ChipMixer laundered over $3 billion price of cryptocurrency between 2017 and the current day.

“ChipMixer facilitated the laundering of cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, on an unlimited worldwide scale, abetting nefarious actors and criminals of all types in evading detection,” Jacqueline Romero, a US lawyer for the Jap District of Pennsylvania, says in an announcement. “Platforms like ChipMixer, that are designed to hide the sources and locations of staggering quantities of legal proceeds, undermine the general public’s confidence in cryptocurrencies and blockchain expertise.”