The German government has just shuttered 47 cryptocurrency exchanges, accusing them of knowingly allowing an “underground economy” for cybercriminals to flourish, and is now turning its attention to its potentially criminal users.

“[They have been] deliberately concealing the origin of criminally obtained funds on a large scale through inadequate implementation of legal requirements for combating money laundering,” Germany’s federal criminal police office, Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office and the country’s office for combatting cybercrime alleged in a Sept. 19 statement. 

The authorities allege their users include ransomware, botnet operators, and black market traders who use the services to convert money obtained through criminal means into the “regular currency cycle.”

The websites of the seized cryptocurrency exchanges now display a clear warning from the German government:

“We have found their servers and seized them – development servers, production servers, backup servers. We have their data – and therefore we have your data. Transactions, registration data, IP addresses,” the authorities wrote.

“Our search for traces begins. See you soon.”

Germany’s warning statement to users of the seized cryptocurrency exchanges. Source: German government

However, the German authorities suggested a widespread prosecution wouldn’t be on the cards as many of these perpetrators reside in other countries.

“Since cybercriminals often reside abroad and are tolerated or even protected by some countries, they often remain inaccessible to German law enforcement,” it wrote.

It is alleged that one of the seized cryptocurrency exchanges, Xchange.cash, had been active since 2012, facilitating nearly 1.3 million transactions for 410,000 users. 

60cek.org, Baksman.com and Prostocash.com were among the other seized trading platforms with high user and transaction counts.

Details of eight of the 47 cryptocurrency exchanges seized by German authorities. Source: German government

The German government was one of the largest Bitcoin holders in the world until recently when it offloaded nearly 50,000 Bitcoin (BTC) — worth $3.15 billion at current prices — across several transactions in June and July.

The funds were seized from piracy site Movie2k.to in 2020.

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