German Government Shuts Down 47 Exchanges

The German Federal Criminal Police Office and the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime stated that these cryptocurrency exchanges failed to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements and allowed illegal activities such as money laundering to take place. As a result, German authorities have shut down dozens of cryptocurrency platforms they believe were involved in the illicit movement of assets.

According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), these exchanges did not adequately monitor customer activities. The Attorney General’s Office in Frankfurt am Main and the BKA shut down 47 cryptocurrency exchanges allegedly involved in criminal activities, including money laundering. These exchanges deliberately failed to comply with their obligations to verify customer identity and background checks, commonly known as KYC requirements.

Some of the exchanges include Xchange.cash, 60cek.org, Baksman.com, along with other smaller platforms. One of the exchanges had been active since 2012, while others were launched as recently as the previous year. During the investigation, the government seized some customer and transaction data. However, authorities noted that the individuals behind these activities often reside in countries outside of Germany, where such criminal activities are “tolerated or even protected,” making prosecution nearly impossible. Instead, they will focus on “weakening” the underlying infrastructure that facilitates these illegal operations.

Earlier this year, the BKA seized 49,857 bitcoin (BTC), worth $2.1 billion at the time, from operators of an anonymous website called Movie2k.to, which was shut down in 2013 for violating copyright law. The agency proceeded to sell the tokens in July, causing significant selling pressure on the global crypto markets. This, combined with repayments by the defunct bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox, which occurred around the same time, further exacerbated market instability.

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