- Dutch police have arrested man who they suspect laundered tens of millions of euros in cryptocurrencies
- The man is alleged to have tried to use Monero and Bisq to cover his tracks
- He was identified when stolen bitcoin ended up with him
Dutch police announced this week that they have a crypto money launderer in custody who they suspect of laundering tens of millions of euros. The announcement, made on Wednesday, revealed that the 39-year-old also tried to Monero to hide his tracks and also probably used decentralised online exchange Bisq, before stolen bitcoin from a rogue Electrum wallet update ended up with him, allowing them to identify him.
Little Known About Suspect’s Targets
Police offered few details on the activities of the arrested man, for example where the stolen money came from, but they did reveal that the suspect’s home was searched when he was arrested, with various “data carriers” seized. The raid was carried out on September 5th, but details are only now emerging.
The reason why not much information has been forthcoming could be because the investigation is still ongoing, with police examining the data carriers and trying to trace the origins of other cryptocurrencies owned by the suspect, which the report revealed were also confiscated at the time of his arrest.
Bisq Won’t Appreciate Attention
Monero is known to be favoured by criminal elements of the crypto community, although this can now be traced through blockchain analysis, while Bisq is one of the more recent decentralised exchanges, which won’t enjoy being featured in the report, given what has happened to Tornado Cash recently.
The investigation is conducted by the cyber crime team of the Central Netherlands police in collaboration with the cyber crime team of the East Netherlands police.
