{"id":10921,"date":"2023-03-15T21:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T21:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=10921"},"modified":"2023-03-15T21:00:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T21:00:37","slug":"doj-shuts-down-chipmixer-over-3b-of-cryptocurrency-money-laundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=10921","title":{"rendered":"DOJ shuts down ChipMixer over $3B of cryptocurrency money laundering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has shut down the Bitcoin mixing service ChipMixer, as announced in a statement on March 15.<\/p>\n<h2>ChipMixer handled $3 billion of illicit crypto<\/h2>\n<p>The DOJ said that ChipMixer has been used to launder more than $3 billion of illicit cryptocurrency transactions since August 2017.<\/p>\n<p>That total includes $17 million of ransomware transactions, $200 million of darknet market transactions, $35 million of transfers tied to fraudulent data sales, and an unspecified amount of transactions tied to a state-backed Russian malware campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ also noted that the platform has been used to handle $700 million in connection to two blockchain \u201cheists\u201d against Ronin Bridge and Horizon Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement in the U.S. seized two web domains that directed visitors to ChipMixer and one GitHub account that hosted project code. Police in Germany additionally seized the project\u2019s back-end servers and $46 million worth of cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<h2>One individual charged in case<\/h2>\n<p>One individual \u2014 Vietnam resident Minh Qu\u1ed1c Nguy\u1ec5n \u2014 has been charged in the case.<\/p>\n<p>Nguy\u1ec5n launched ChipMixer in 2017 and paid for the services necessary to run the platform by using fake identities. He also promoted the service online and advocated against anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) measures.<\/p>\n<p>He now faces charges of money laundering, identity theft, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.<\/p>\n<p>Nguy\u1ec5n has been charged in Philadelphia. He potentially faces 40 years in prison.<\/p>\n<h2>Actions against other coin mixers<\/h2>\n<p>U.S. authorities have also taken measures against other coin mixers. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Ethereum-based coin mixer Tornado Cash in August 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, the Treasury sanctioned a lesser-known mixer called Blender in May 2022. Recent reports from blockchain surveillance firm Elliptic suggest that the platform may have been rebranded in order to operate under the name Sinbad.<\/p>\n<p>Though coin mixers are used for illegal activities, enforcement actions have been met with controversy due to the fact that mixers have legitimate privacy applications.<\/p>\n<p>Posted In: Crime, Regulation<br \/>\n<br \/><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/doj-shuts-down-chipmixer-over-3b-of-cryptocurrency-money-laundering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has shut down the Bitcoin mixing service ChipMixer, as announced in a statement on March 15. ChipMixer handled $3 billion of illicit crypto The DOJ said that ChipMixer has been used to launder more than $3 billion of illicit cryptocurrency transactions since August 2017. That total includes $17 million [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethereum-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10923,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10921\/revisions\/10923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}