On July 24 the operator of the website and bitcoin mixing service Bitmixer.io announced the operation is now ending its mixing services. Although many Bitcoiners assumed the closure was due to law enforcement pressure the owner insists it is due to a change in his ideology.
‘The Largest Bitcoin Mixer is About to Stop Working’
Bitmixer.io is one of the most popular bitcoin mixing and tumbling services on the web and caters to large volumes of BTC. The service has been operating since 2014, and the platform was processing 65,000 BTC per month according to the operator of the site. Bitmixer provided digitally signed proof of every order and offered instant mixing with a big reserve. In addition to Bitmixer’s website on clearnet, the operation also had an official Tor mirror as well on the deep web. For over three years the tumbling service operated for those who wanted to mix quantities of bitcoins. Then on July 24, the sites operator announced, “the largest bitcoin mixer is about to stop working.”“Despite the huge profit we earn, we are closing our activity,” explains Bitmixer. “Let me explain why. I’m bitcoin enthusiast since 2011. When we started this service, I was convinced that any Bitcoin user has a natural right to privacy. I was totally wrong. Now I grasp that Bitcoin is a transparent non-anonymous system by design. Blockchain is a great open book.”
"I believe that Bitcoin will have a great future without dark market transactions. You may use Dash or Zerocoin if you want to buy some weed. Not Bitcoin. "
Recent Darknet Takedowns Cause Speculation
The news comes shortly after the recent global law enforcement takedown of the Alphabay and Hansa darknet marketplaces. As soon as Bitmixer’s announcement was made, many people asked whether or not the organization was threatened by law enforcement. Lots of darknet customers and vendors use mixers to cover their tracks. Alongside this, lately bureaucrats worldwide are talking of banning these types of applications and frowning upon those who condone bitcoin tumblers. However, the operator of Bitmixer thinks that this is a ridiculous assumption. “The government pressure doesn’t work like ‘Oh man, please close your service,’” Bitmixer responds. “No way. They just come and arrest you for illegal activity. We are privacy experts; it is hard or impossible to find out our location and personality, our servers are located in the country where Bitcoin is not considered as a currency. I could sell the business to our competitors for $5-6M, but I will not do this.”
It is important that you understand my position. I really revised my view about Bitcoin as a transparent system. Bitcoin has no future with drug/weapon traffic or any other illegal activity. This is my point.
A lot of people still didn’t believe the Bitmixer operator reasons but wished him luck for helping people mix coins. One person writes, “I don’t believe that he turned 180 degrees to anti-privacy — Anyhow, thanks for your service mate!”