Darknet Cryptocurrency Mixer Shut Down for Processing $3 Billion in Unlawful Transactions

The Justice Department has taken down ChipMixer, a darknet cryptocurrency "mixing" service that laundered over $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency for ransomware, darknet market, fraud, cryptocurrency heists, and other hacking schemes. The operation involved the seizure of two domains, one Github account, and the ChipMixer back-end servers, as well as the arrest of Minh Quốc Nguyễn, who was charged with money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and identity theft. ChipMixer allowed customers to deposit bitcoin, which was then mixed with other users' bitcoin, making it difficult for law enforcement or regulators to trace the transactions.