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Europol’s Cryptomixer raid highlights growing cross-border action against Bitcoin-based money laundering.
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Governments now treat seized Bitcoin differently, from fast selloffs to potential reserve and budget tools.
German and Swiss authorities worked with Europol to shut down the crypto mixing service Cryptomixer. During a week-long operation in Zurich from November 24 to 28, 2025, they seized around EUR 25 million in Bitcoin, three servers, the cryptomixer.io domain and more than 12 terabytes of data.
Under the lead of prosecutors in Frankfurt and the German Federal Criminal Police Office, officers worked with the Zurich Public Prosecution Office, Zurich Cantonal Police and Zurich City Police to target the service. Together, they took control of Cryptomixer’s infrastructure and replaced the website with a seizure banner, which forced the platform fully offline and cut user access.
According to Europol, the website functioned as an illegal cryptocurrency mixer that laundered proceeds from cybercrime, fraud and other criminal activity by obscuring Bitcoin transaction trails. The service operated on both the clear web and the dark web and is suspected of processing funds tied to multiple investigations across Europe.
During the takedown, authorities moved the seized Bitcoin into state-controlled wallets. Europol said its analysts will now review the server data and transaction records to track the money flows and support further cases in Germany, Switzerland and other partner countries.
Governments Take Different Paths With Seized Crypto
Last year, around July 2024, Germany quickly sold about 50,000 Bitcoins that its Federal Criminal Police Office had seized in 2013, as noted in our earlier post. The rapid selloff shook the crypto market and fueled sharp price swings. Now, as the new Trump administration in the US considers building national Bitcoin reserves, Germany’s decision could prove costly in hindsight.
Accounting firm RSM recently said the United Kingdom could sell its Bitcoin holdings to help pay down debt and improve its finances. Data from Arkham Intelligence shows the UK government holds about $6.27 billion in Bitcoin, mainly seized from convicted money launderer Jian Wen.
Prosecutors say Wen converted the Bitcoin into cash and property. However, her defense argues that another person actually ran the scheme.
As more countries add crypto to their financial systems, Russia under Vladimir Putin is choosing a different path. Instead of keeping Bitcoin as a reserve, it is looking at turning seized BTC into cash to boost state revenue, as previously mentioned in our report.
