Ddos 
Image: BKA
In a significant strike against the financial underpinnings of cybercrime, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the General Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt—Zentralstelle zur Bekämpfung der Internetkriminalität (ZIT)—have shut down the notorious crypto-swapping platform eXch. The operation culminated on April 30, 2025, with the seizure of eXch’s domestic server infrastructure and approximately €34 million in cryptocurrencies, marking the third-largest crypto asset seizure in BKA history.
Accessible both on the Clearnet and the Darknet, eXch.cx had been operational since 2014 and served as an anonymous conduit for swapping Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dash—often without any user verification. Its business model openly defied anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and specifically advertised on underground criminal marketplaces as a haven for laundering illicit digital funds.
According to the press release, the seized platform facilitated cryptocurrency transactions valued at an estimated $1.9 billion over its lifespan. Authorities suspect that a significant portion of these funds were of criminal origin. Investigators have traced some of the $1.5 billion stolen during the February 2025 Bybit exchange hack back to eXch, indicating its direct role in laundering stolen digital assets.
The operators behind eXch are now under investigation for professional money laundering and for running a criminal online trading platform. Though they attempted to preempt law enforcement by announcing a voluntary shutdown by May 1, 2025, the BKA moved swiftly to secure evidence, including over 8 terabytes of data and wallets tied to the illicit funds.
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