The world’s leading cryptocurrency mixing service, Bestmixer.io, has just been shut down by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) in cooperation with Europol and authorities in Luxemburg, according to a report from Europol published on May 22.
Per the report, Bestmixer.io has been under investigation by the FIOD with support from the internet security company McAfee since mid-2018. Now nearly one year later, the investigation led to the seizure of 6 servers operated by Bestmixer.io in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
One of the Largest Mixing Services Seized
According to Europol, Bestmixer.io is one of the 3 largest cryptocurrency mixing services, estimated to have mixed at least $200 million in cryptocurrencies since its launch in May 2018. It’s services offered mixing for Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
The Bestmixer.io service provided users with a centralized, custodial mixing service that obfuscates the trail of transactions available on a crypto’s public blockchain. The service made it very difficult, if not impossible to track the cryptos once mixed.
As stated by Europol:
“The investigation so far into this case has shown that many of the mixed cryptocurrencies on Bestmixer.io had a criminal origin or destination. In these cases, the mixer was probably used to conceal and launder criminal flows of money.”
Conclusion
Following the seizure of Bestmixer.io, the Dutch FIOD has gathered all of the data and information they could find on the platform over the past year. This includes messages, IP addresses, transaction details, Bitcoin addresses, and more.
All of the aforementioned information will be analyzed by the FIOD and Europol, and will then be shared with other intelligence agencies in other countries.
Do you think Bestmixer.io will just start up again with new servers in a different location? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
