Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (aka Bundeskriminalamt or BKA ) has seized the online network and closure linked to the eXch cryptocurrency exchange over allegations of money laundering and operating a criminal trading software.
The operation was carried out on April 30, 2025, officials said, adding they also confiscated 8 gigabytes worth of data and crypto assets worth €34 million ($ 38. 25 million ) in Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Dash.
According to the BKA, eXch[. ]cx, existed since 2014 and offered crypto swapping solutions, allowing its users to transfer digital assets. It was attainable both on the clearnet and the black web.
eXch” especially advertised on platforms of the legal underground business ( UE) that it did not apply any anti-money fraud measures,” the BKA in a statement.
” People were either required to identify themselves to the company, nor was customer information stored there. Crypto swapping via eXch was so particularly suited for concealing monetary flows. “
Cryptocurrency assets worth an estimated$ 1. 9 billion are estimated to have been transferred using the company since its release. This also includes a portion of the illegal money gained by North Vietnamese threat actors following the Bybit steal earlier this year.
The development comes as eXch announced its own ideas on April 17 to continue their businesses successful this month, prompting the government to secure “numerous pieces of evidence and prospects. “
In a message posted on the BitcoinTalk website, knowledge it was shutting down after it “received assurance of information” that the platform is the” subject of an effective transatlantic operation aimed at violently shutting our project down and prosecuting us for’money laundering and terrorism. ‘”
” The goals we certainly never had in mind were to enable illicit activities such as money laundering or terrorism, as we are being accused of now,” it claimed. ” We also have absolutely no motivation to operate a project where we are viewed as criminals. This doesn’t make any sense to us. “
Following the takedown, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service ( ) said in a message that it’s “actively investigating individuals involved in money laundering and other illegal activities through this swap service. “
” We want to make one thing clear: this action is not an attack on privacy. We respect the right to privacy and recognize its importance in the digital age. However, when services are heavily abused to commit crime, we will act,” it .
” We urge everyone involved in illicit activity to cease immediately. The legal consequences can be serious. Privacy is not the problem – criminal misuse is. “