[2019-05-22] Dutch Authorities Shut Down Bestmixer

[figmentofmyass]

one of the largest bitcoin mixers---bestmixer.io---had its domain seized by european authorities.

according to the press release from the FIOD, operational servers were dismantled and seized in the netherlands and luxembourg. very sloppy of bestmixer to be running servers out of such jurisdictions. my guess is, it's only now that bestmixer users have been thoroughly de-anonymized that the site is being taken offline.

The Dutch Financial Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) has shut down cryptomixing site Bestmixer.io.

According to local media, Dutch authorities moved to shut down the site on May 22, 2019, as part of a joint operation with police agencies from several European nations, including France, Latvia and Luxembourg. Following concerns originally raised by the online security company McAfee in 2018, the FIOD has claimed that the service was used for money laundering.

As Dutch media reported, no arrests have yet been made in the Bestmixer case, as Europol officials attempt to determine the extent to which criminal money laundering was used on the site.

McAfee also released its own report on the FIOD’s action against Bestmixer, describing the site’s possible connections to cybercrime and usage as an easy way to launder money.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/dutch-authorities-shut-down-bestmixer/

press release from the dutch authorities: https://www.fiod.nl/the-fiod-and-the-public-prosecution-service-take-money-laundering-machine-for-cryptocurrencies-offline/

[1715195826]

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[CryptoBry]

Oh well, so the Dutch authorities finally made their move to seize all the things connected with the BestMixer business. And the basis is that with their investigation they uncovered that the service is used to launder illegal or dirty money. That can probably right but I am also sure that many clean transactions are done using the service. I am not here to defend BestMixer because we don't have the verified information under our hands but I believe that if was used as a money laundering front then cases have to be filed in the court so the perpetrators can face justice and that similar services should never allow their platforms to be utilized the same way with BestMixer.

In addition, what about ChipMixer...do you think it is not in danger of getting into the same predicament?

[Kakmakr]

This is going to trigger new innovation in this sector with more of these services moving to a decentralized model like Torrent networks that would be much harder to take down. People are very cunning when it comes to protecting their financial interest and we saw that when Finland took down Piratebay and within a few days many more similar sites popped up like mushrooms. 

It will be interesting to see what the reaction of the other similar services will be now. 

[1Referee]

Coinjoin type of features will eventually completely replace centralized mixers, and I think that's a good thing for all involved parties chasing the highest obtainable degree of privacy. I'm not sure how long it will take, especially with how this will bump the main-chain fees further, but it's only a matter of time in the end.

Samourai mobile wallet will implement it too in the not so distant future, definitely looking forward to that. Having these features within our clients is a big deal.

[Lucius]

according to the press release from the FIOD, operational servers were dismantled and seized in the netherlands and luxembourg. very sloppy of bestmixer to be running servers out of such jurisdictions.

I agree that it was not wise to use servers in those two countries, and the same would happen anywhere in the EU probably. Mixers are not popular in the eyes of the authorities, because they are considered as services that enable money laundering, which is not exactly true. The fact that they can not control them leads to actions like this one.

I do not know where the servers of ChipMixer are located, but I hope they are not in EU / US - in case this is just the beginning of the attack on similar services.

[squatter]

Coinjoin type of features will eventually completely replace centralized mixers, and I think that's a good thing for all involved parties chasing the highest obtainable degree of privacy. I'm not sure how long it will take, especially with how this will bump the main-chain fees further, but it's only a matter of time in the end.

Sidechains employing Confidential Transactions and other obfuscating techniques like Dandelion routing could also provide another avenue to superior privacy -- assuming there is enough traffic on the sidechain network. I'm not sure what type of consensus change would be required to add CT to Bitcoin -- plus transactions are still 3x the size of standard -- so I'm not sure we'll ever see it integrated into Bitcoin.

Blockstream's Liquid is a start, but I'm not that comfortable with the federated consensus model and we're obviously not seeing huge transaction volumes yet, either.

[shamc]

It wasn't necessary as it will only make things harder to trace. Hackers will simply convert their stolen funds into monero and other privacy coins and it will be impossible to follow what happens next after that

[Slow death]

The reason for the investigation was a report from cyber security company McAfee.

But they do not talk why hell the McAfee cyber security company has made this report. Is a very vague news and without any relevant data of the real reason to involve: DIGIT; Europol; FACT and the authorities of Luxembourg, France and Latvia ... in an investigation against a mixer. Something very serious must have happened for this mixer service to have been investigated and seized

[bbc.reporter]

I read the same news from a different bitcoin news website. However it was very funny because I did not know if it was the news of Bestmixer's shutdown or the promotion of Bitcoin SV hehehehe.

How much might that journalist be paid for? It must be good.



The clampdown on Bestmixer is a clear case of why it’s not advisable to promote a crypto ecosystem that it lawless, especially with government oversight is coming. It’s also why Bitcoin SV (BSV) is building a regulation-friendly environment for Bitcoin to work within the existing legal systems. Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of Bitcoin Association, is a former 21+year digital technology lawyer in the U.S., and he emphasizes:  “It’s time for Bitcoin to grow up, which includes getting out of the wild wilderness of cryptocurrency’s adolescent years and mature into a lawfully compliant ecosystem.    Expect more government agency crackdowns such as this one against BestMixer.  This also reinforces why Bitcoin SV is leading the way to create a safe ecosystem that big businesses and consumers will feel comfortable using.”

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is today the only Bitcoin project that follows the original Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper, and that follows the original Satoshi protocol and design. BSV is the only public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin and will massively scale to become the world’s new money and enterprise blockchain.

Source https://coingeek.com/crypto-mixing-service-bestmixer-seized-over-money-laundering-claims/

[joniboini]

Source https://coingeek.com/crypto-mixing-service-bestmixer-seized-over-money-laundering-claims/

How the hell they narrate this story to promote BSV?
Too many claims without solid background here. For example, how the hell company would feel safe if BSV and his brother are so full of drama, didn't have any problem doing a chain re-org or attacking other chains just to show off.

The journalist or that site is clearly a paid shill.

Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of Bitcoin Association, is a former 21+year digital technology lawyer in the U.S., and he emphasizes:  “It’s time for Bitcoin to grow up, which includes getting out of the wild wilderness of cryptocurrency’s adolescent years and mature into a lawfully compliant ecosystem.

Does this equal no to privacy then?

[bbc.reporter]

@joniboini. I googled who owns coingeek to see what I get. Well, Coingeek's parent company is the Ayre Group which is owned by Calvin Ayre, who is also a Craig is Satoshi supporter and Bitcoin SV pumper whale hehehe.

[vit05]

@joniboini. I googled who owns coingeek to see what I get. Well, Coingeek's parent company is the Ayre Group which is owned by Calvin Ayre, who is also a Craig is Satoshi supporter and Bitcoin SV pumper whale hehehe.

Bitcoin sv would eventually be a totally centralized project. This type of news show that they want to transform Bitcoin sv in some kind of controlled corporation that could operate in any country.

About Bestmixer, the Dutch Authorities need to make it clear what they will do with the information they collect. Not everyone that used the service was doing something ilegal. And they do not have the right to save information from people they will not investigate

[Netnox]

It was always a very shady project and since it was operating within the EU, the authorities moved in quickly and liquidated the mixer. Feels bad for the promoters. They were also running a very active signature campaign here in Bitcointalk. Now all that is gone. Hopefully Chipmixer and the other sits will be able to fill in the gap and serve the users.

[bbc.reporter]

In connection to this news, Bitblender has shutdown its website and mixing service voluntarily. This might be the time for other mixers to improve their set up.

What countries are mixing services welcome? How should mixing services' servers be set up so it would be impossible to shutdown?



However, the number of Bitcoin mixers has dwindled in recent years. Some services pulled an exit scam, whereas others were shut down by the government. One such service was recently targeted by a group of European law enforcement agencies. In the case of Bitcoin Blender, its early demise has a very different reason. It appears the team running the show decided it would be best to end on a high.

This decision is rather unusual, as very few service providers effectively get to shut down on their own accord. For Bitcoin Blender, the news came as a surprise to its users. No further explanation other than a brief message on the project’s website was provided. This leaves a lot of room for speculation as to what went down exactly. However, users are advised to withdraw their funds as soon as possible to avoid any issues.

For a service which has been around for roughly five years, Bitcoin Blender has never gotten into any legal issues as far as users are aware. However, the swift change of direction by the team seems to indicate they may have come under some scrutiny or simply didn’t want to end up like other mixing services. It is possible this is an impulse decision which may be reverted once the dust settles, but for now, things will remain as they are.

Read in full https://nulltx.com/bitcoin-mixing-service-bitcoin-blender-throws-in-the-towel/

[LeGaulois]

As far as I know, only 1 mixer has been shut down by a government (Bestmixer). All others closed of their own decision (Bitmixer, Coinmixer, BitBlender,...), correct me if I'm wrong.
As long there is demand we will always have Bitcoin mixers. Now it's also up to them to be proactive

[hugeblack]

As far as I know, only 1 mixer has been shut down by a government (Bestmixer). All others closed of their own decision (Bitmixer, Coinmixer, BitBlender,...), correct me if I'm wrong.
As long there is demand we will always have Bitcoin mixers. Now it's also up to them to be proactive

Perhaps the common denominator among all these Mixers is suspicion of money laundering, where Bitmixer disappeared after btc-e sized for money laundering. Same happens with Bestmixer &BitBlender  so there may be a relationship and thus disappear after the first was on sized.

Many platforms in EU countries are subject to regulatory regulations so we may see more of these in the future.

[hv_]

Such things and even protocol changes that are on purpose for criminal use will kill any crypto btw

[bL4nkcode]

I read the same news from a different bitcoin news website. However it was very funny because I did not know if it was the news of Bestmixer's shutdown or the promotion of Bitcoin SV hehehehe.
[snip]
Source coingeek.com/crypto-mixing-servic....

You should stop reading and heeding articles published on congeek, all of them are fraud.

so there may be a relationship and thus disappear after the first was on sized.

Or just a matter of being cautious? We know bitblender run for how many years, bitmixer closed but they just ignore it and still operate the service, after then, Bestmixer shutdown then now they just announced for such news.

Though I have a guess that one of the governments' agencies are trying to investigate or even trying to shut chipmixer but still a matter of when, or there's new processing of mixing method already trying to build or still in the experimental process, who knows.

[hv_]

I read the same news from a different bitcoin news website. However it was very funny because I did not know if it was the news of Bestmixer's shutdown or the promotion of Bitcoin SV hehehehe.
[snip]
Source coingeek.com/crypto-mixing-servic....

You should stop reading and heeding articles published on congeek, all of them are fraud.

so there may be a relationship and thus disappear after the first was on sized.

Or just a matter of being cautious? We know bitblender run for how many years, bitmixer closed but they just ignore it and still operate the service, after then, Bestmixer shutdown then now they just announced for such news.

Though I have a guess that one of the governments' agencies are trying to investigate or even trying to shut chipmixer but still a matter of when, or there's new processing of mixing method already trying to build or still in the experimental process, who knows.

Enabling mixing is fraud, binance is fraud and telling ppl not to read critical stuff is a red flag that u might want to help hide fraud.

Na.

[veleten]

technically any coin mixing service can be accused of money laundering and shut down
I can't believe bestmixer hosted their servers in the country that can easily comply with the european court's decisions
this is a bad precedent , bitcoin is not that anonymous to start with and if many mixers are taken down , those who want to preserve their anonymity  will have not so many options left
and even worse , there will be (if not are already) special services controlled mixers - as non anonymous as it can get