[ANN] ChipMixer.com - Bitcoin mixer / Bitcoin tumbler - mixing reinvented

[NotATether]

Was the guy even arrested? They claim they charged him, but that's all...

I'd assume so, but then again, it would've been really bad opsec to live in or go to the USA while you're operating a mixer...

So are the FEDs!  Their own institutions are failing and dropping like flies.  Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank...  Calling these institutions banks is actually a joke;

They care so much about people that scams and phishing websites exist non-stop and they never seize them... I wonder why  
Don't forget that this is all controlled demolition with banking institution falling, so people who are commanding are not scared at all, they are playing chess and laughing at people.
Ask yourself what is the outcome of financial banking collapse and removing all privacy options from people, it just creates more centralization that leads directly towards CBDC slave system with digital identity.
They don't like Bitcoin with privacy at all, so my thinking is that next on the line is going to be the access to the internet.

If the 2008 recession was when we got Bitcoin, then this one will be when we get scalable bitcoin transactions that everyone starts using. (Without modifying the protocol, but by doing tricks like what Casey of ordinals did).

#BitcoinDoesntCare

[FatFork]

Was the guy even arrested? They claim they charged him, but that's all...

I don't think so. It appears that there is a warrant issued for his arrest, however, given that his name has now been added to the FBI's most wanted list, I assume that he has not yet been arrested.

[DireWolfM14]

According the Department of Justice (yeah, that's what they actually call themselves missing the Orwellian irony,) he's been charged, but the press release makes no mention of an arrest.  I don't know if Vietnam has an extradition policy with the US or Germany, so it may be difficult for them to impose their injustice upon him.  Let's hope.

Coinciding with the ChipMixer takedown efforts, Minh Quốc Nguyễn, 49, of Hanoi, Vietnam, was charged today in Philadelphia with money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and identity theft, connected to the operation of ChipMixer.

[n0nce]

Let's hope that Chipmixer didn't actually suffer any losses, and they'll be back with new servers in a more secure location.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but gaining access to the onion private key pretty much means shit has hit the fan.

My guess is they tracked the servers when they were still accessible through clearnet, possibly infiltrated them and then took their time to build a case & take it down when everything's 'ready' (i.e. today).
Moving to Tor-only after the fact is similar to moving a seed from a software wallet to 'cold storage'.

[BlackHatCoiner]

[...]

I'm curious to know what happens later. Ok, so let's say you know where the founder lives, or where the servers are located. Do you just break into his place? As far as we know, he isn't caught yet, so they didn't force him to hand over any keys. They must have broken into his place, and access the drives without him knowing anything.

[DireWolfM14]

Moving to Tor-only after the fact is similar to moving a seed from a software wallet to 'cold storage'.

Excellent analogy.  I suspect you're right about the way they infiltrated Chipmixer's systems.  But as for the timing, it's interesting how these things regularly happen right after reports surface of their own shortcomings, failures, and downright abuses.  It's almost as if they're intentionally trying to distract us from something else...

[n0nce]

~snip~
Even my chips which I had in chipmixer service for which they claimed to "delete private" keys after 7 days or whatever, were seized/transfered.
and these transactions took place good 3 months ago.

It seems that you are right, whoever had vouchers or chips was left without them. I checked some old wallets older than 1 year that only contained chips from CM, and they were all emptied. Yes, it's a bit stupid that I didn't spend them, but honestly I forgot about a few $ in those old wallets. It's really strange that it wasn't all deleted, but now we at least know where even 7GB of data came from.

Can confirm, they stole a chip of mine a friend of mine that he hadn't yet spent. :/ Really fucking bad practice of ChipMixer to keep private keys, not gonna lie.
It was still there today morning and even when the news broke here; I he had not considered that private keys may have been backed up on CM servers to be honest.

Fortunately, all my Bitcoin transactions go through my own node which I connect to through Tor, as I always recommend.

[...]

I'm curious to know what happens later. Ok, so let's say you know where the founder lives, or where the servers are located. Do you just break into his place? As far as we know, he isn't caught yet, so they didn't force him to hand over any keys. They must have broken into his place, and access the drives without him knowing anything.

I guess they just found a security hole and took over the server(s).

[Husires]

I asked them this question when Bestmixer was seized and their answer was very vague, I hope they have plans.

How many coins have been mixed?chips sources? Plan if there is a government decision against it? bitmixer's mistakes, or whatever happened to that mixer? How long will keep advertising here? Future plans?

Does chipmixer planning to share some information publicly?

We share full information how mixer works, why it works and how it ensures fungibility.

How many coins have been mixed?

We do not disclose this information.

chips sources?

Our funds and users funds. Withdraw before deposit, chip sizes and mixer receipts ensures that any chip you withdraw from ChipMixer have no link with deposited funds.

Plan if there is a government decision against it?

Which government?

[dwyane36]

According the Department of Justice (yeah, that's what they actually call themselves missing the Orwellian irony,) he's been charged, but the press release makes no mention of an arrest.  I don't know if Vietnam has an extradition policy with the US or Germany, so it may be difficult for them to impose their injustice upon him.  Let's hope.

As far as I know, Vietnam is a member of Interpol. So if Nguyễn is internationally wanted and eventually caught, he can be extradited at the request of any country, including Germany and the United States. However, trying to catch someone worldwide can be a really difficult task, even for Interpol. For example, Do Kwon was internationally wanted almost six months ago, but no one has caught him yet.

[LeGaulois]

A bit difficult to centralize the discussion since there are multiple topics about CM, It's scattered.

Ok I'll just throw out something with what I know:
Things may become very ugly, and maybe worse than you might think.

(Remember all the problems ChipMixer has been facing during its lifetime, whatever about the website security, ddos, etc...)

I finished as well to read the PDF published by The US (posted here or in another topic).
It's either not the truth or incomplete. And Chipmixer is labeled as a noob in cryptography but for sure it is not true.
And there have been mistakes done that I think are unthinkable in this industry of mixers

[coupable]

According the Department of Justice (yeah, that's what they actually call themselves missing the Orwellian irony,) he's been charged, but the press release makes no mention of an arrest.  I don't know if Vietnam has an extradition policy with the US or Germany, so it may be difficult for them to impose their injustice upon him.  Let's hope.

As far as I know, Vietnam is a member of Interpol. So if Nguyễn is internationally wanted and eventually caught, he can be extradited at the request of any country, including Germany and the United States. However, trying to catch someone worldwide can be a really difficult task, even for Interpol. For example, Do Kwon was internationally wanted almost six months ago, but no one has caught him yet.

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial. And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?
It is very unfortunate to know that ChipMixer kept the keys to the chips.

[Dave1]

According the Department of Justice (yeah, that's what they actually call themselves missing the Orwellian irony,) he's been charged, but the press release makes no mention of an arrest.  I don't know if Vietnam has an extradition policy with the US or Germany, so it may be difficult for them to impose their injustice upon him.  Let's hope.

As far as I know, Vietnam is a member of Interpol. So if Nguyễn is internationally wanted and eventually caught, he can be extradited at the request of any country, including Germany and the United States. However, trying to catch someone worldwide can be a really difficult task, even for Interpol. For example, Do Kwon was internationally wanted almost six months ago, but no one has caught him yet.

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial. And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?
It is very unfortunate to know that ChipMixer kept the keys to the chips.

It's because he have been identified by the Interpol already, and Vietnam is a member country of the Interpol. And for all we know they could have been working with their counterpart in Vietnam for his identification. And once they are sure of it, they released his name, but it didn't mentioned that he has been caught or apprehended.

Now, as to the effect of the seizure, yes, it's very unfortunate, and I think it's an attack to our privacy.

[dragonvslinux]

According the Department of Justice (yeah, that's what they actually call themselves missing the Orwellian irony,) he's been charged, but the press release makes no mention of an arrest.  I don't know if Vietnam has an extradition policy with the US or Germany, so it may be difficult for them to impose their injustice upon him.  Let's hope.

As far as I know, Vietnam is a member of Interpol. So if Nguyễn is internationally wanted and eventually caught, he can be extradited at the request of any country, including Germany and the United States. However, trying to catch someone worldwide can be a really difficult task, even for Interpol. For example, Do Kwon was internationally wanted almost six months ago, but no one has caught him yet.

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial. And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?

Maybe it was and it was rejected, who knows at this point. The fact that Vietnam police weren't collaborators in this case says a lot imo, at least not officially on seizure page etc. At least that they didn't lift a finger by sounds of it. Also sad to hear that keys were kept, as far back as a year or more as reported in the thread. That's likely where a lot of the confiscated Bitcoin came from that easily could have been avoided...

It is very unfortunate to know that ChipMixer kept the keys to the chips.

Personally I've left neutral feedback for ChipMixer referencing the domain seizure as I think that's fair and appropriate given the developing situation, but makes me wonder whether referencing the chips lost should also be done. It's clear that ChipMixer hasn't exit scammed and it's not possible to get scammed at present as the website isn't even available to mix coins anymore, but surprised to see that nobody has bothered to reference this in CM's feedback so far to be honest. Even if the damage is already done as it were. I imagine anyone on here with lost chips would benefit from being aware of the situation though...

[JeromeTash]

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial.

So that the manhunt can begin with the help of the public. They probably weren't able to locate him so far. You can't extradite or try someone you have not arrested yet.

And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?

They announced his name because they need your help to locate him

[UmerIdrees]

Personally I've left neutral feedback for ChipMixer referencing the domain seizure as I think that's fair and appropriate given the developing situation, but makes me wonder whether referencing the chips lost should also be done. It's clear that ChipMixer hasn't exit scammed and it's not possible to get scammed at present as the website isn't even available to mix coins anymore, but surprised to see that nobody has bothered to reference this in CM's feedback so far to be honest. Even if the damage is already done as it were. I imagine anyone on here with lost chips would benefit from being aware of the situation though...

This is one article that i read about this chipmixer One of the darkweb’s largest cryptocurrency laundromats washed out.
I don't what is the authenticity of the claims mentioned in the article but one thing is extra ordinary i read in this article. It says that almost 40 million Euro were seized.

Now the question is this 40M Euro belong to Chipmixer? I don't think that people who mix their coins on chipmixer, their money is stored there because the money is moved to the user's wallet as soon as the mixing is done. So where does this money comes from and why it is stored at chipmixer?

[slackovic]

This is one article that i read about this chipmixer One of the darkweb’s largest cryptocurrency laundromats washed out.
I don't what is the authenticity of the claims mentioned in the article but one thing is extra ordinary i read in this article. It says that almost 40 million Euro were seized.

Now the question is this 40M Euro belong to Chipmixer? I don't think that people who mix their coins on chipmixer, their money is stored there because the money is moved to the user's wallet as soon as the mixing is done. So where does this money comes from and why it is stored at chipmixer?

It probably isn't fiat money. That 40 million euro is probably what they calculated the seized amount of BTC (1900) is worth.

[FatFork]

Now the question is this 40M Euro belong to Chipmixer?

No. It is likely that the funds do not rightfully belong to ChipMixer from a legal standpoint, but instead to their clients. (Not sure if the term "legal" is appropriate in this particular context.)

I don't think that people who mix their coins on chipmixer, their money is stored there because the money is moved to the user's wallet as soon as the mixing is done.

Actually, that's not quite right. When you use ChipMixer to mix your coins, you receive "chips" after depositing your coins. These chips are essentially pre-funded addresses owned by ChipMixer, and you're given the private keys to withdraw the funds. However, not everyone immediately transferred the funds from these chips to their own wallets, which resulted in the funds being confiscated.

So where does this money comes from and why it is stored at chipmixer?

I presume that these are the unutilized chips that were available on the platform for the company's operational requirements, as well as the chips belonging to customers who did not withdraw them to their external wallets.

[coupable]

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial.

So that the manhunt can begin with the help of the public. They probably weren't able to locate him so far. You can't extradite or try someone you have not arrested yet.

And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?

They announced his name because they need your help to locate him

Personally, I do not imagine that these guys failed to hide their identities, although their history proves how smart they are. The name of the suspect that was announced may have been used as his identity only and has nothing to do with the matter. I am not going to open an investigation here, and all I want to say is that things are open to many scenarios as long as Chipmixer keeps data on servers like any centralized website.

[dragonvslinux]

I do not understand why the name of the suspect was announced so quickly before an official request was submitted to the State of Vietnam for his extradition or trial.

So that the manhunt can begin with the help of the public. They probably weren't able to locate him so far. You can't extradite or try someone you have not arrested yet.

And if an indictment file was prepared before the site was shut down, why was the suspect not arrested before his name was announced?

They announced his name because they need your help to locate him

Personally, I do not imagine that these guys failed to hide their identities, although their history proves how smart they are.

I recommend you have a browse through the court document to see the investigation into him (starts around page 28):
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1574581/download

Unfortunately, having clearnet sites and un-encrypted emails with google/yahoo/protonmail etc means it only takes one slip up. Basically warrants for information went to numerous services from email to social media to exchanges, leading them eventually to him via different alias'. Whether he was simply involved with hosting the clearnet site, or even just a user, rather than admin, is another story though as the evidence seems to lack his direct involvement. Unlike with previous darkweb market takedowns for example, it's usually a requirement to catch the suspect "logged in" as it were, for concrete evidence.

Ie they connect him through clearnet registration to email to to recovery emails to crypto addresses to exchanges to KYC, nothing more than joining dots together with a lot of warrants for information to different service and providers. At best it's a fishing expedition and he's found not guilty of money laundering and operating chipmixer and only found guilty identity fraud imo, but don't want to speculate too much over his guilt tbh...

The problem with the smartest people is that all it takes is one human error, and it can be the start of an investigation...

I am not going to open an investigation here, and all I want to say is that things are open to many scenarios as long as Chipmixer keeps data on servers like any centralized website.

No need, the US already created one. Ideally the 60 page document would be summarised here so others can understand the claim a lot quicker.

[trainer1234]

Can someone explain me where the benefit of having all those private keys  from every single mixing order is ?


Because the pre funded wallets which the user gained access after receiving the private key from chipmixer were public anyways on the blockchain.


So what i dont understand is, there is no extra gain of tracement only that the LE is having the privatekeys or am i having a wrong conclusion?