German police shut down $1.3 bn Darknet firm Hydra Market; seize $25.2 mn worth of Bitcoin

German law enforcement shutdown what they say was the biggest illegal Darknet market place seizing 23 million euros ($25.2 million) worth of Bitcoin.

One of the biggest Darknet Bitcoin market place was shutdown by the Germany police on Monday. The German law enforcement reported seizing $25.2 million worth of cryptocurrency. (Kin Cheung/AP)

German law enforcement shutdown what they say was the biggest illegal Darknet market place seizing 23 million euros ($25.2 million) worth of Bitcoin. The Russian-language Hydra Market platform was used for drug trafficking and money laundering and in 2020 alone had sales on 1.2 billion euros, the Frankfurt prosecutors' anti-cybercrime unit said Tuesday. Prosecutors said they seized 543 Bitcoin in total.

Frankfurt Prosecutors and German federal police cooperated with U.S. authorities on the probe.

Hydra Market had about 17 million client accounts and more than 19,000 sales accounts. The server structure was in Germany. Last year, German police had already taken down the DarkMarket that about half a million people used to trade drugs and cryptocurrencies.