Two German government agencies, the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), have shut down 47 illegal exchanges, some of which used cryptocurrency.
The exchanges, hosted in Germany, were accused of facilitating money laundering by acquiring and concealing illicit funds, according to a recent release.
The platforms also bypassed know-your-customer (KYC) protocols, allowing anonymous digital transactions. This lack of identity checks enabled the movement of illegally obtained funds.
During the investigation, authorities secured user and transaction data to aid in ongoing cybercrime efforts.
German authorities shut down major exchanges like Xchange.cash, 60cek.org, Baksman.com, and Prostocash.com, which were used by ransomware groups and darknet traders to launder illicit funds.
Officials seized the exchanges’ servers, gaining access to transaction details and user data, and issued a warning to criminals, stating their pursuit had begun. While prosecuting offenders is challenging due to foreign jurisdictions, Germany remains committed to fighting crypto crime.
In a related operation, the financial watchdog BaFin seized nearly $28 million in cash during a crackdown on crypto ATMs in August.
Earlier this year, the German government seized 50,000 BTC (worth $2 billion at the time) from the illegal streaming site Movie2K.
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