Dutch Police Seize Bitcoin Tumbler “Bestmixer.io” https://darknetlive.com/post/dutch-police-seize-bitcoin-tumbler-bestmixer-io/

Cryptocurrency Anonymizing Service Shut Down by Europol
https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2019/05/147669-mixer-down-cryptocurrency-anonymizing-service-shut-down-by-europol/

On May 22, 2019 police in the Netherlands and Luxembourg have seized six servers hosting best mixer.io. “one of the three largest mixing services for cryptocurrencies.” The seizures, cooperatively executed by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), Europol and the authorities in Luxembourg, have resulted in the complete shutdown of the service.

Internet security company McAfee also supported the operation to close Bestmixer.

Cryptocurrency “tumbling” or “mixing” services allow users to pool or “mix” their cryptocurrencies with those of other parties and then withdraw equivalent sums for a fee.

Traceability, the services claim, is thereby reduced.

According to Europol:

“A cryptocurrency tumbler or cryptocurrency mixing service is a service offered to mix potentially identifiable or ‘tainted’ cryptocurrency funds with others, so as to obscure the trail back to the fund’s original source.”

Without mixing transactions or changing addresses frequently, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and other transactions can be traced because they are recorded on a public ledger that can be scrutinized by anyone.

The exceptions are so-called “privacy coins” which employ in-built technology designed to obscure information about senders and/or receivers. But privacy coins like ZCash and Monero can reportedly be difficult for average people to use. Privacy coins also feature far less liquidity than public coins. Parties have also periodically claimed to have breached the privacy of privacy coins. Meanwhile, despite the transparency of its blockchain, reports indicate that Bitcoin remains the most used cryptocurrency on the Dark Net, where a majority of transactions are illicit.

Europol claims that, in a single year of operations, Bestmixer, “achieved a turnover of at least $200 million (approx. 27,000 Bitcoins).”

The agency also states that the company mainly served criminal interests: “The investigation so far into this case has shown that many of the mixed cryptocurrencies on Bestmixer.io had a criminal origin or destination. In these cases, the mixer was probably used to conceal and launder criminal flows of money.”

The Europol investigation into Bestmixer started approximately one month after the company launched in May 2018. And though Bestmixer reportedly “guaranteed” customer anonymity, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service says it gathered detailed intelligence about users for almost the entire history of the service, intelligence it will now analyze and furnish to other law enforcement:

“The Dutch FIOD has gathered information on all the interactions on this platform in the past year. This includes IP-addresses, transaction details, bitcoin addresses and chat messages. This information will now be analysed by the FIOD in cooperation with Europol and intelligence packages will be shared with other countries.”

Motherboard writer Joseph Cox tweeted that the shut down of Bestmixer.io is part of a larger global sweep targeting Dark Net markets and support services, an operation that has been underway for months.

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Coindesk news of the raid: https://www.coindesk.com/eu-authorities-crack-down-on-bitcoin-transaction-mixer.

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See also the official FIOD statement: https://www.fiod.nl/the-fiod-and-the-public-prosecution-service-take-money-laundering-machine-for-cryptocurrencies-offline/.

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Australian follow-up on the bestmixer.io raid: https://www.finder.com.au/the-j5-crypto-crime-task-force-is-tracking-down-bitcoin-mixer-users

Best mixer.io put within the anti-money laundering efforts in Hong Kong: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3013411/hong-kong-trying-shake-its-reputation-haven

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Web info about bestmixer.io from May 2018:
https://www.cryptocynews.com/future-of-bitcoin-mixers/

Bestmixer.io marketing video from June 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxCezLbVT-w

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Two weeks before the bestmixer.io raid, the site was nominated as “Best Bitcoin Mixer of 2019”
https://ripplecoinnews.com/bestmixer-io-is-the-best-bitcoin-mixer-of-2019:

Of the many virtues possessed by the BestMixer.io platform is its unrivaled customer support. Whereas many other mixers have shallow or non-existent support teams, BestMixer.io’s staff is always near at hand should you run into questions or complications.

However, BestMixer.io’s notion of customer support doesn’t end at just responding to emails. Part of their way of providing customer support is by endlessly updating and improving the BestMixer.io platform. Not content to simply rest on their laurels, the BestMixer.io development team is always looking for ways to make your experience even more anonymous.

To do so, the team keeps current with up-to-the-minute developments in the blockchain space. Blockchain analysis, for instance, is an ever-growing concern for many, and the techniques used by analysis firms to uncover your identity are growing more efficient by the day. BestMixer.io knows this, and knows how to stay several steps ahead.

Recently, the BestMixer.io introduced a major upgrade to the platform that does away with a pattern used to deny a specific type of order fulfillment. Getting rid of this pattern makes the work of Chainalysis and other blockchain analysis firms inherently more difficult. The result of this added difficulty is a level of anonymous protection for BestMixer.io clients that is unrivaled by any other mixing service on the market.

Additionally, the BestMixer.io added a nifty update that allows you to mix exactly the amount you want another wallet to receive – an extremely handy update for sending anonymous payments. These updates, along with those past and to come in the future, are part and parcel of what makes BestMixer.io the best bitcoin mixer of 2019.

The Core of the BestMixer.io Mixing Engine

At BestMixer.io’s core is a powerful bitcoin mixer engine that integrates three levels of anonymity depending on your needs. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma pools each provide unbeatable protection, but if you have a high amount of BTC to mix, then you’ll want to go with the Beta or Gamma pools.

The Alpha pool is for basic mixing that mixes your coins with those of other users before sending you new BTC. The Beta pool mixes both user coins and private reserve coins, and the Gamma pool uses exclusive investor and private reserve tokens to ensure that blockchain analysis is rendered ineffective. Watch the video guide on how to use bitcoin mixer properly.

These three pools, combined with the total user-support provided by the staff and development team at BestMixer.io mean that you are covered 24/7 by the best bitcoin mixer available today.

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SmartMix.io: Who is using bitcoin mixers?
https://smartmix.io/post/15

By Smartmix / 06.10.2019 04:10 h
Cryptocurrency holders often use bitcoin mixers like SmartMix for privacy reasons, not as an attempt to hide illegal activity or income. Despite their dubious reputation, bitcoin mixers are legal services that operate in the open. So who really uses bitcoin mixers and why?

According to a webinar from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, the majority of funds sent to cryptocurrency mixing services or tumblers comes from exchanges, which indicates that mixers are primarily used for privacy purposes rather than for illicit activities. In fact, up to 40% of funds that go to bitcoin mixers are coming from exchanges and another 28% comes from other mixers, showing that bitcoin users are trying to add as many layers of security to their online privacy as they can.

You don’t have to be operating a multi-billion-dollar darknet market to want financial privacy. Maintaining anonymity online increases the safety of your cryptocurrency assets, and no matter who you are there are many legitimate reasons to want to obfuscate your bitcoin transactions. If you’re concerned about how much personal data you leak simply by sending or receiving cryptocurrency, remember that SmartMix is an essential tool to safeguard your identity. In conjunction with other security measures, make sure you mix your bitcoins whenever you make a transaction that you think should be private. Check out other articles on this blog for more suggestions for online anonymity. Stay safe and happy mixing!

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Bestmixer.io Review – Is It Scam or Legit?
https://bestbitcointumblers.com/bestmixer-io-review/

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From another review of Best Bitcoin Tumblers (that did not mention the takedown of bestmixer.io)
https://bestbitcointumblers.com/anonymix-review/

“Is it Illegal to use Anonymix?
Short answer: No. Long Answer: Probably. Well it would depend on your unclean coin-source, intentions and many other factors.

But if you stole the coins, or obtained them via any illegal means they’re still illegal. “Mixing” them isn’t illegal, using Anonymix isn’t illegal either but they may have legal repercussions.

Our Verdict: This Anonymix review does not encourage or promote money-laundering, or any other illegal activities. Do not use Anonymix for illegal activities and you should be fine.”

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Another mixer review site that does not mention best mixer.io anywhere: https://bestbitcoinmixer.org/

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Broader darknet analysis (August 26, 2019): https://medium.com/@Nethone_/something-is-rotten-in-the-state-of-the-darknet-f891663bc058