On Thursday, the German public prosecutor proclaimed the closure of 47 exchange platforms purportedly utilized for illegal activities.
These platforms facilitated trading in both traditional currencies and cryptocurrencies.
The individuals responsible for the recently closed exchanges are being accused by the authorities of concealing the illicit origins of substantial sums of money. It is purported that they neglected to adhere to anti-money laundering regulations.
Additionally, these platforms purportedly permitted transactions without requiring registration or identity verification. According to the statement, their objective was to facilitate the rapid, effortless, and anonymous exchange of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies, thereby concealing their origins.
Ransomware organizations, darknet vendors, and botnet operators comprised the clients of these platforms, as per the office. They employed these services to transfer criminal funds and ransom payments into the conventional financial system, enabling them to utilize illegally acquired funds.
Authorities in Germany confiscate 50,000 Bitcoin from Movie2k operators, which the Government subsequently sells
In January, authorities in Saxony, eastern Germany, announced the seizure of nearly 50,000 Bitcoin, valued at $2.2 billion. The administrators of Movie2k.to, a film piracy site that operated in 2013, were the subjects of the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Germany.
The Bitcoins were transmitted to a wallet under the control of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany.
The government subsequently sold Bitcoin for hundreds of millions of dollars, resulting in a substantial decline in value. The government had sold off its Bitcoin reserves by July 2024, culminating in a final sale of 3,846 Bitcoins.
