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Germany shuts down ‘world’s largest’ crypto launderer

German authorities said Wednesday they had taken down the "world's largest" money laundering site for cryptocurrency, seizing millions of euros' worth of bitcoin in the process.

Cryptocurrency markets
A website displays information on the value of various cryptocurrencies. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Karl-Josef Hildenbrand

Law enforcement officials secured around €44 million of the digital currency in the move against online platform ChipMixer, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Working together with authorities in the United States and Europol, investigators also seized the servers belonging to the “darknet” site.

ChipMixer’s operators are suspected of “commercial money laundering and running a criminal trading platform on the internet”, the German authorities said.

The site is said to have accepted criminally obtained bitcoin to pay it out again after it had undergone “mixing” to conceal its origin.

ChipMixer promised users “complete anonymity”, according to investigators.

READ ALSO: What to know about cryptocurrency in Germany

The service, in operation since the middle of 2017, is estimated to have laundered “around 154,000 bitcoin” worth about €2.8 billion, they said.

Much of it came “from ransomware groups and from other criminal activities”, officials said.

ChipMixer was “the world’s largest money-laundering service on the darknet”, they said.

The secret “darknet” includes websites that can be accessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users.

German and US authorities have recently worked together to act against criminal activities involving cryptocurrencies.

Last year, authorities in the two countries shut down Hydra, an anonymous, illicit online marketplace, which also operated on the darknet.

Transactions from Hydra worth “millions” were found on ChipMixer, investigators said.

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German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

A politician from Germany's socialist Die Linke party was insulted and attacked in a supermarket in Eisenberg, Thuringia on Friday.

German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

At the supermarket checkout, a man insulted the party’s state election candidate Steffen Much without reason and grabbed him by his T-shirt, the party’s regional association said on Saturday.

Much was unharmed, according to party sources, and filed a police report against the attacker, who he knew.

“I am glad that Steffen Much was not physically harmed,” said the co-chairman of the Left Party’s regional association, Christian Schaft.

“Insults and attacks like these are intended to intimidate everyone who is committed to an open and democratic society.”

There have been several attacks on politicians across the country recently.

READ ALSO: German far-right AfD candidate attacked with knife in Mannheim

The Thuringia state elections take place on 1 September.

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