Overview

• The Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) and Frankfurt prosecutors shut down the eXch platform on April 30, preempting its planned May 1 closure.
• Investigators seized €34 million in cryptocurrency and eight terabytes of data in one of the BKA’s largest-ever digital asset confiscations.
• The platform, active since 2014 on both the open web and darknet, facilitated anonymous crypto-swapping without anti-money-laundering measures.
• Authorities suspect eXch was used to launder criminally sourced Bitcoin, including funds from the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025.
• The investigation, conducted in collaboration with Dutch tax authorities, continues to pursue leads on international cybercrime linked to the platform.