Would that mean manually approving every withdrawal?

There's a complication: considering recent events, being directly involved in any form of coin mixing could mean legal problems. Since you're looking for trusted and thus well-known people, I doubt they'd want to risk that.

Keeping funds offline would have been possible: once in a while, when they run out of chips, users could only get a voucher until new chips were created. In the same way funded keys could have been kept offline.
I think the backup-scenario sounds logical: 7 GB of data including several snapshots which includes some of the used private keys. I'm now curious if there's anyone left with (older) chips that haven't been emptied. I checked the changes here yesterday, I'll do the same to day to see if more keys got swept. If that happened, I assume it's their owner emptying them now.

Update:
1 mBTC chips: March 16: 373824 - March 17: 374196 - Difference: 372 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0.372 BTC.
2 mBTC chips: March 16: 79035 - March 17: 79117 - Difference: 82 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0.164 BTC.
4 mBTC chips: March 16: 30463 - March 17: 30546 - Difference: 83 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0.332 BTC.
8 mBTC chips: March 16: 13950 - March 17: 13958 - Difference: 8 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0.064 BTC.
17 mBTC chips: March 16: 5053 - March 17: 5051 - Difference: -2 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -0.034 BTC.
32 mBTC chips: March 16: 3452 - March 17: 3430 - Difference: -22 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -0.704 BTC.
64 mBTC chips: March 16: 1359 - March 17: 1343 - Difference: -16 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -1,024 BTC.
128 mBTC chips: March 16: 830 - March 17: 820 - Difference: -10 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -1,280 BTC.
256 mBTC chips: March 16: 392 - March 17: 371 - Difference: -21 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -5,376 BTC.
500 mBTC chips: March 16: 57411 - March 17: 57443 - Difference: 32 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 16 BTC.
512 mBTC chips: March 16: 277 - March 17: 276 - Difference: -1 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -0.512 BTC.
1000 mBTC chips: March 16: 96525 - March 17: 96558 - Difference: 33 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 33 BTC.
1024 mBTC chips: March 16: 267 - March 17: 256 - Difference: -11 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -11,264 BTC.
2000 mBTC chips: March 16: 19792 - March 17: 19801 - Difference: 9 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 180 BTC.
2048 mBTC chips: March 16: 57 - March 17: 55 - Difference: -2 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -4,096 BTC.
4000 mBTC chips: March 16: 4496 - March 17: 4486 - Difference: -10 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -40 BTC.
4096 mBTC chips: March 16: 114 - March 17: 114 - Difference: 0 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0 BTC.
8000 mBTC chips: March 16: 1284 - March 17: 1282 - Difference: -2 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: -16 BTC.
8192 mBTC chips: March 16: 15 - March 17: 15 - Difference: 0 funded addresses. Total balance sweeped: 0 BTC.

Based on this, I can't really tell if any more chips have been swept.

That makes no sense, "hotpassion" was selling Paypal funds for Bitcoin. I always assumed CM was loaded in Bitcoins. Why would they sell small amounts of Paypal funds?

Almost anything can be used for good and for evil. Tor browser for instance is used by many scumbags, but also helps dissidents in their fight for a better country. Knives, guns, cars, hammers, privacy, everything can be used to hurt people. That doesn't mean good people should give up their rights and freedom.

So you're saying I should keep track of all changes to all laws in all countries on the planet?

Congrats! Now click "lock topic" (bottom-left).

I was curious how many chips got emptied, so I compared the number of funded addresses with "chip-sized-balances" this morning to yesterday morning's balances. Note that this isn't meant to be accurate, it also includes non-chips with the same balance (and it could even include addresses that received additional funds so they're no longer counted as "chips"). Despite these shortcomings, I'm pretty sure most of them are chips.

1 mBTC chips: March 15: 377619 - March 16: 373824 - Difference: -3795 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -3.795 BTC.
2 mBTC chips: March 15: 81644 - March 16: 79035 - Difference: -2609 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -5.218 BTC.
4 mBTC chips: March 15: 32943 - March 16: 30463 - Difference: -2480 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -9.92 BTC.
8 mBTC chips: March 15: 16179 - March 16: 13950 - Difference: -2229 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -17.832 BTC.
16 mBTC chips: March 15: 8823 - March 16: 6701 - Difference: -2122 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -33.952 BTC.
32 mBTC chips: March 15: 4737 - March 16: 3452 - Difference: -1285 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -41.12 BTC.
64 mBTC chips: March 15: 2410 - March 16: 1359 - Difference: -1051 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -67.264 BTC.
128 mBTC chips: March 15: 1638 - March 16: 830 - Difference: -808 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -103.424 BTC.
256 mBTC chips: March 15: 1702 - March 16: 392 - Difference: -1310 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -335.36 BTC.
500 mBTC chips: March 15: 57401 - March 16: 57411 - Difference: 10 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 5 BTC.
512 mBTC chips: March 15: 973 - March 16: 277 - Difference: -696 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -356.352 BTC.
1000 mBTC chips: March 15: 96484 - March 16: 96525 - Difference: 41 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 41 BTC.
1024 mBTC chips: March 15: 1582 - March 16: 267 - Difference: -1315 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -1.346.56 BTC.
2000 mBTC chips: March 15: 19824 - March 16: 19792 - Difference: -32 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -64 BTC.
2048 mBTC chips: March 15: 229 - March 16: 57 - Difference: -172 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -352.256 BTC.
4000 mBTC chips: March 15: 4493 - March 16: 4496 - Difference: 3 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 12 BTC.
4096 mBTC chips: March 15: 238 - March 16: 114 - Difference: -124 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -507.904 BTC.
8000 mBTC chips: March 15: 1293 - March 16: 1284 - Difference: -9 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -72 BTC.
8192 mBTC chips: March 15: 81 - March 16: 15 - Difference: -66 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -540.672 BTC.

For comparison, this is what the data would have looked like on a "normal" day (2 days earlier):
1 mBTC chips: March 13: 377071 - March 14: 376999 - Difference: -72 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -0.072 BTC.
2 mBTC chips: March 13: 81456 - March 14: 81506 - Difference: 50 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 0.1 BTC.
4 mBTC chips: March 13: 32672 - March 14: 32742 - Difference: 70 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 0.28 BTC.
8 mBTC chips: March 13: 15963 - March 14: 16019 - Difference: 56 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 0.448 BTC.
16 mBTC chips: March 13: 8664 - March 14: 8708 - Difference: 44 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 0.704 BTC.
32 mBTC chips: March 13: 4717 - March 14: 4736 - Difference: 19 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 0.608 BTC.
64 mBTC chips: March 13: 2394 - March 14: 2416 - Difference: 22 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 1.408 BTC.
128 mBTC chips: March 13: 1628 - March 14: 1639 - Difference: 11 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 1.408 BTC.
256 mBTC chips: March 13: 1629 - March 14: 1673 - Difference: 44 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 11.264 BTC.
500 mBTC chips: March 13: 57411 - March 14: 57449 - Difference: 38 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 19 BTC.
512 mBTC chips: March 13: 915 - March 14: 960 - Difference: 45 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 23 BTC.
1000 mBTC chips: March 13: 96436 - March 14: 96480 - Difference: 44 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 44 BTC.
1024 mBTC chips: March 13: 1575 - March 14: 1596 - Difference: 21 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 21.504 BTC.
2000 mBTC chips: March 13: 19810 - March 14: 19806 - Difference: -4 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -8 BTC.
2048 mBTC chips: March 13: 205 - March 14: 231 - Difference: 26 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 53.248 BTC.
4000 mBTC chips: March 13: 4482 - March 14: 4481 - Difference: -1 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -4 BTC.
4096 mBTC chips: March 13: 231 - March 14: 242 - Difference: 11 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 45.056 BTC.
8000 mBTC chips: March 13: 1290 - March 14: 1288 - Difference: -2 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -16 BTC.
8192 mBTC chips: March 13: 78 - March 14: 83 - Difference: 5 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 40.96 BTC.
(note: when the total balance "swept" is positive, more addresses with that balance were created, not swept).

A quick count shows that more than 1900 Bitcoin was swept, which makes me believe that not all private keys were compromised and some users swept it on their own.

Raw data source: List of all Bitcoin addresses with a balance

---

---

Update

Segwit (addresses starting with bc) only:
1 mBTC chips: March 15: 129252 - March 16: 127143 - Difference: -2109 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -2,109 BTC.
2 mBTC chips: March 15: 22471 - March 16: 20861 - Difference: -1610 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -3,22 BTC.
4 mBTC chips: March 15: 8205 - March 16: 6591 - Difference: -1614 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -6,456 BTC.
8 mBTC chips: March 15: 4893 - March 16: 3313 - Difference: -1580 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -12,64 BTC.
16 mBTC chips: March 15: 3534 - March 16: 1840 - Difference: -1694 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -27,104 BTC.
32 mBTC chips: March 15: 1810 - March 16: 873 - Difference: -937 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -29,984 BTC.
64 mBTC chips: March 15: 1012 - March 16: 334 - Difference: -678 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -43,392 BTC.
128 mBTC chips: March 15: 876 - March 16: 169 - Difference: -707 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -90,496 BTC.
256 mBTC chips: March 15: 1296 - March 16: 77 - Difference: -1219 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -312,064 BTC.
500 mBTC chips: March 15: 29868 - March 16: 29891 - Difference: 23 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 11,5 BTC.
512 mBTC chips: March 15: 657 - March 16: 37 - Difference: -620 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -317,44 BTC.
1000 mBTC chips: March 15: 31921 - March 16: 31964 - Difference: 43 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 43 BTC.
1024 mBTC chips: March 15: 1333 - March 16: 54 - Difference: -1279 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -1,309,696 BTC.
2000 mBTC chips: March 15: 7746 - March 16: 7755 - Difference: 9 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 18 BTC.
2048 mBTC chips: March 15: 196 - March 16: 37 - Difference: -159 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -325,632 BTC.
4000 mBTC chips: March 15: 1615 - March 16: 1620 - Difference: 5 funded addresses. Total balance swept: 20 BTC.
4096 mBTC chips: March 15: 127 - March 16: 15 - Difference: -112 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -458,752 BTC.
8000 mBTC chips: March 15: 397 - March 16: 392 - Difference: -5 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -40 BTC.
8192 mBTC chips: March 15: 61 - March 16: 3 - Difference: -58 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -475,136 BTC.

Native (addresses starting with 1) only:
1 mBTC chips: March 15: 202374 - March 16: 200753 - Difference: -1621 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -1,621 BTC.
2 mBTC chips: March 15: 45485 - March 16: 44496 - Difference: -989 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -1,978 BTC.
4 mBTC chips: March 15: 19819 - March 16: 18920 - Difference: -899 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -3,596 BTC.
8 mBTC chips: March 15: 8595 - March 16: 7936 - Difference: -659 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -5,272 BTC.
16 mBTC chips: March 15: 3916 - March 16: 3486 - Difference: -430 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -6,88 BTC.
32 mBTC chips: March 15: 2191 - March 16: 1848 - Difference: -343 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -10,976 BTC.
64 mBTC chips: March 15: 1193 - March 16: 823 - Difference: -370 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -23,68 BTC.
128 mBTC chips: March 15: 650 - March 16: 548 - Difference: -102 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -13,056 BTC.
256 mBTC chips: March 15: 356 - March 16: 264 - Difference: -92 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -23,552 BTC.
500 mBTC chips: March 15: 15473 - March 16: 15460 - Difference: -13 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -6,5 BTC.
512 mBTC chips: March 15: 283 - March 16: 207 - Difference: -76 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -38,912 BTC.
1000 mBTC chips: March 15: 42015 - March 16: 41998 - Difference: -17 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -17 BTC.
1024 mBTC chips: March 15: 244 - March 16: 208 - Difference: -36 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -36,864 BTC.
2000 mBTC chips: March 15: 6352 - March 16: 6314 - Difference: -38 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -76 BTC.
2048 mBTC chips: March 15: 32 - March 16: 19 - Difference: -13 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -26,624 BTC.
4000 mBTC chips: March 15: 1499 - March 16: 1496 - Difference: -3 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -12 BTC.
4096 mBTC chips: March 15: 109 - March 16: 97 - Difference: -12 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -49,152 BTC.
8000 mBTC chips: March 15: 518 - March 16: 515 - Difference: -3 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -24 BTC.
8192 mBTC chips: March 15: 19 - March 16: 11 - Difference: -8 funded addresses. Total balance swept: -65,536 BTC.

I fear the opposite: CM-users will look for an alternative, and many of them will fall victim to new scam sites.

Am I the only one who's surprised that 1900 Bitcoin was stored in hot wallets?

Or, there's one guy taking the fall now. I always thought that CM had deep pockets from the start, and that doesn't sound like a single guy from Vietnam.

I keep learning new words!

I'll join the gratefulness! When I started my Avatar for Rent-topic, I never expected it to turn into a multiyear party.

Congratulations to 4 years, and thank you very much for having me in there all this time!

I'll start the party with my favourite 38% Greek beverage

Thanks again for your flawless timing!

I'll move over there now

If you have to ask this, you shouldn't build an exchange.

From all the users who created a Bitcoin wallet in 2021, the ones who didn't take proper security precautions must have had more wallets hacked than the users who took proper precautions.
It's like saying you've been driving around without a seat belt for years, so you don't need it. The thing is: you don't know for sure until it's too late, that's why you take precautions.

I'm curious about that too. Many people used ChipMixer for privacy, which (still) isn't illegal. But if you're going to claim your vouchers back from the German authorities, your privacy will be gone.

As long as the CEO is human, I'm not impressed.

The claim "A large share of this is connected to darkweb markets ...." is the opposite of any other (actual) research on mixers I've seen in the past.

Indeed!

I think that's because blinded bearer certificates are quite complicated to understand. I read about it a few times, and I read your OP, but it's still unclear how it would work exactly.
Can you start by creating a live working version on testnet, before going for real Bitcoin? My guess is you'll have much more users testing your service when they don't risk real funds.

Agreed. If you can't present how it works in such a way that the reader quickly understands it, he'll move on to another service.

Allow me to destroy your feeling of security by showing you the first Google hit I get when I search "malware in ads":
Hackers abuse Google Ads to spread malware in legit software.
There are no safe websites.

Does this "I sell a million Bitcoins for 20 billion dollars" scam still work? Do people send you enough money so you can eat again for a week?

Only if you have a backup, or can recover the wallet from your computer.

If the seed belongs to your wallet, you can restore it.

Your password protects the wallet on your computer, the seed restores the wallet. The password is useless without the wallet.

Where did you get the address you sent your Bitcoins to, if you didn't get it from your wallet?

That's great, but unfortunately I can't say you're using it correctly:


Since you're posting this in my topic, this is how I think the Trust system should be used:

Try to be objective instead of subjective: