Ethical Hacking News
German authorities have taken down the notorious crypto exchange platform, eXch, seizing €34 million worth of cryptocurrency and 8 terabytes of data in an effort to combat money laundering and illicit activities on the dark web.
German authorities, along with Dutch forces, shut down eXch, a notorious crypto exchange platform. The shutdown aims to combat money laundering and illicit activities on the dark web. The operation resulted in the seizure of €34 million worth of cryptocurrency and 8 terabytes of data. eXch facilitated $1.9 billion in illicit fund laundering and played a role in transferring stolen Bitcoin. Operators chose to shut down due to hostile law enforcement action, rather than face prosecution for money laundering and terrorism charges. The shutdown marks a significant victory in combating cybercrime and money laundering globally.
In a significant operation, German law enforcement, along with Dutch authorities, has taken down the notorious crypto exchange platform, eXch (eXchcx). The move comes as part of an ongoing effort to combat money laundering and illicit activities on the dark web. According to officials, the shutdown is aimed at dismantling the platform's infrastructure, which was allegedly used for illegal trading and suspicious financial transactions.
The operation, led by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), involved collaboration with Dutch FIOD agents and ZIT, a Central Intelligence Agency unit. The joint effort resulted in the seizure of approximately €34 million worth of cryptocurrency and 8 terabytes of data from the platform. This makes eXch the third-largest crypto asset seizure ever conducted by German authorities.
eXch, which was operational since 2014, claimed to offer anonymous crypto swaps via clearnet and darknet channels, thereby evading Anti Money Laundering (AML) rules. The authorities suspect that the platform facilitated laundering of approximately $1.9 billion in illicit funds. Furthermore, it is believed that eXch played a role in transferring Bitcoin worth an estimated 1.5 billion US dollars, which were stolen from the crypto exchange Bybit, following a massive APT attack by Lazarus in February 2025.
The eXch platform claimed to have been subjected to an active transatlantic operation aimed at shutting it down and prosecuting its operators for money laundering and terrorism charges. However, despite the threats and attempts by law enforcement agencies to shut it down, eXch's management team decided to cease operations due to the hostile environment.
In a statement on the BitcoinTalk forum, eXch operators acknowledged receiving confirmation of information about an operation aimed at shutting them down and prosecuting them for money laundering. They stated that they did not wish to cause any harm to innocent people or the forum and therefore chose to shut down rather than face strong opposition from law enforcement.
Dr. Benjamin Krause, Chief Public Prosecutor at ZIT, emphasized the importance of taking action against platforms like eXch, which enable anonymous crypto swaps used by criminals for money laundering. The authorities believe that these platforms provide a conduit for concealing illicit funds and depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains.
The shutdown of eXch marks a significant victory for global law enforcement in its efforts to combat cybercrime and money laundering. This operation serves as a reminder of the importance of cooperation between agencies worldwide in combating transnational threats.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/Global-Law-Enforcement-Crackdown-on-eXch-Crypto-Exchange-A-Web-of-Deceit-and-Cybercrime-ehn.shtml
https://securityaffairs.com/177706/cyber-crime/german-police-seized-exch-crypto-exchange.html
https://cointelegraph.com/news/germany-seizes-38-million-crypto-bybit-hack-linked-exch
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/germany-shuts-exch-crypto-platform-seizure-bybit-hack/
Published: Mon May 12 02:35:03 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
