German law enforcement reported a major operation seizing $38 million in cryptocurrencies from the shuttered platform eXch. The operation, conducted on April 30, is one of the largest crypto seizures in the country.
Operation of Crypto Seizure
The operation was announced on Friday by the Frankfurt Prosecutor General’s Office. The seizure included Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Dash, and over 8 terabytes of data and server infrastructure located in Germany.
Issues with AML and KYC
Founded in 2014, the eXch platform enabled anonymous crypto swaps by operating without standard anti-money laundering (AML) or know-your-customer (KYC) protocols. According to prosecutors, the platform openly marketed its lack of compliance on websites frequented by participants in the criminal underground economy.
Links to Major Crypto Theft
The prosecutor’s statement noted that a portion of the $1.4 billion stolen from Bybit, a popular crypto exchange, may have been laundered through eXch, although the investigation remains ongoing.
The operation to seize funds from eXch underscores the efforts of German authorities to combat unregulated platforms involved in money laundering and cybercrime.
