Key Points:

• German authorities have halted the operations of the eXch crypto exchange, seizing approximately $38 million in tokens and over 8 terabytes of data, marking a significant law enforcement action against suspected crypto laundering.

• The exchange is accused of being involved in laundering hundreds of millions from major breaches, such as the Bybit hack and the Genesis creditor theft.

• Authorities estimate that eXch facilitated transactions exceeding $1.9 billion, largely believed to stem from illicit activities.

Details:

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office and BKA (Federal Criminal Police Office) dismantled eXch’s server infrastructure on April 30, just a day before the operators intended to shut it down, as per a statement issued recently.

Agents noted that the platform was employed in laundering significant sums of stolen crypto, including funds from a $1.5 billion hack targeting Bybit and a $243 million theft related to Genesis, alongside multiple phishing operations.

The platform had reportedly promoted itself on criminal underground networks, asserting it lacked anti-money laundering measures and did not store user data, making it a fitting tool for masking financial transactions.

The crackdown reveals ongoing efforts by authorities throughout Europe to combat illicit crypto activities, following similar actions against platforms like ChipMixer and Hydra.

(Translation from original German text provided in the article)

Even as eXch had operated since 2014, it faced years of allegations for neglecting anti-money laundering regulations, allowing users to swap cryptocurrencies without registration.