German law enforcement has taken down the crypto exchange eXch, a platform allegedly responsible for processing more than $1.9 billion in illicit digital asset transfers linked to high-profile crypto hacks and phishing schemes.
The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) jointly executed the operation on April 30, dismantling eXch’s server infrastructure and seizing approximately €34 million ($38 million) worth of tokens, along with over 8 terabytes of data. Authorities acted just one day before the platform’s operators had reportedly planned to shut it down.
According to investigators, eXch played a key role in laundering funds from major cyberattacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, the $243 million theft from Genesis creditors, and several large-scale phishing and drainer campaigns.
The platform gained notoriety for marketing itself on darknet forums as a fast, anonymous crypto-swapping service. It operated since 2014 under domains such as eXch(dot)cx, and specifically advertised its lack of anti-money laundering (AML) controls. German officials noted that users were not required to register or verify their identity, making it an ideal tool for concealing illicit financial activity.
“Users were neither required to identify themselves to the service, nor was user data stored there,” authorities said in an official release. “Crypto swapping via eXch was therefore particularly suitable for concealing financial flows.”
The service supported unregulated crypto-to-crypto swaps involving bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and dash (DASH), allowing criminals to obscure the origins of stolen funds with ease.
This enforcement action is one of Germany’s largest to date against suspected crypto-related money laundering. It follows a broader European crackdown on illicit crypto infrastructure, joining recent takedowns of platforms like ChipMixer, Sinbad, and Hydra over the past two years.
