-Germany Mass Closes Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Why Are They Closing Them? -
Germany’s Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Police (BKA) have closed 47 cryptocurrency exchanges that are alleged to be linked to crimes such as money laundering.
The BKA stated that these exchanges deliberately ignored “know your customer” (KYC) requirements such as identity verification and background checks.
Which Cryptocurrency Exchanges Were Closed?
The closed exchanges include platforms such as Xchange.cash, 60cek.org, and Baksman.com. Some of these exchanges have been active since 2012, while others only started operating last year. Authorities also reported that they seized some customer and transaction data as part of the investigation.
However, it was emphasized that the people behind such illegal activities usually live outside of Germany and that such crimes are “tolerated or protected” in these countries.
Therefore, it was stated that it may be almost impossible for the German government to prosecute these individuals. Instead, authorities said they would focus on weakening the infrastructure that made these illegal activities possible in the first place.
Bitcoin Was Under Selling Pressure
Earlier this year, the BKA seized 49,857 Bitcoins (BTC) from the operators of the privacy site Movie2k.to, which was shut down in 2013 for violating copyright law. At the time, these Bitcoins were worth $2.1 billion. When the tokens were sold in July, global crypto markets experienced a huge surge due to the selling pressure.
