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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →A crypto mixer is designed to make links between cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals harder to follow; a cross-chain bridge moves assets or asset representations between blockchain networks. A mixer’s purpose is obfuscation, while a bridge’s basic purpose is interoperability. Both can appear in a laundering investigation, but neither use alone proves criminal intent—and neither makes funds automatically untraceable.
What is the difference between a mixer and a bridge?
| Investigative question | Crypto mixer | Cross-chain bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Primary function | Obscures links between deposits and withdrawals, often through commingling or other design features. | Moves assets or representations of assets between blockchain networks. |
| Main tracing challenge | Connecting inputs to outputs and distinguishing service activity from user behavior or an investigator’s inference. | Matching an event on one chain to the corresponding event on another, which may represent the asset differently. |
| Potentially observable evidence | Deposits, service-related addresses, timing, amounts and later outputs may remain visible, although the relationship between them can be obscured. | Bridge activity and subsequent transfers may be recorded on-chain; analysts must correlate activity across networks. |
| What use alone establishes | Exposure to a mixer; not that a user knew funds were criminal or intended to launder them. | Cross-chain activity; not that a user laundered funds or committed a crime. |
These are functional distinctions, not universal technical descriptions. The FBI’s complaint describes one common custodial pattern in which a customer sends cryptocurrency to an address controlled by a mixer, the service commingles funds, and it later arranges a transfer from another address. Mixer designs vary, so not all mixers should be described as operating that way. The Chainalysis 2024 report characterizes bridge activity as on-chain and traceable, but the exact evidence available depends on the bridge, chains and investigation. The FBI’s description appears in the Bitcoin Fog case materials; Chainalysis discusses bridges in its 2024 Crypto Crime Report.
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How investigators trace activity through each
Following a mixer
Commingling and transaction structuring can make it harder to attribute a particular withdrawal to a particular deposit. Investigators may still examine observable deposits and outputs, service-related addresses, amounts and timing, then test proposed links against other evidence. The existence of a plausible flow is not, by itself, proof of who controlled an address or what a person intended.
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A mixer does not guarantee untraceability. In the Bitcoin Fog prosecution, the U.S. Department of Justice said investigators traced Bitcoin Fog transactions through blockchain analysis. On March 12, 2024, a jury convicted operator Roman Sterlingov of money laundering conspiracy and other offenses. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said investigators were “painstakingly tracing bitcoin through the blockchain to hold Sterlingov and his Bitcoin Fog enterprise to account.” That case demonstrates what investigators achieved there; it does not mean every mixer flow can be resolved, or that blockchain analysis alone establishes identity.
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DOJ reported that Bitcoin Fog processed more than 1.2 million bitcoin over its decade-long operation, valued at approximately $400 million using values at the time of the transactions. Those are DOJ’s case-specific figures, not an estimate of all mixer activity. DOJ’s 2024 announcement gives the conviction, quote and figures.
Following a bridge
A bridge adds a cross-chain correlation problem rather than automatically concealing activity. Analysts can examine the source-chain transaction, bridge contract or service events, activity on the destination chain, intermediary addresses, later swaps and any eventual cashout. The bridge may change the asset’s representation or require analysts to match transactions across different ledgers, but the bridge activity itself can leave on-chain evidence.
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Chainalysis reported that $312.2 million in cryptocurrency from illicit addresses went to bridge protocols in 2022, rising to $743.8 million in 2023. These are amounts the report attributes to funds from illicit addresses sent to bridge protocols—not total bridge transaction volume and not government figures. They do not establish that bridge use generally is illicit. The figures are from Chainalysis’s 2024 Crypto Crime Report.
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How a laundering sequence can involve both
A single investigation may involve a bridge, a mixer and other steps, such as intermediary wallets, swaps or exchanges. The tools serve different roles: a bridge can move assets between networks, while a mixer can add an obfuscation step. Their appearance in the same sequence does not make ordinary users of either service suspects.
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The Ronin theft
Chainalysis described the March 2022 Ronin Network theft as involving withdrawals of 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC after attackers gained control of five of the network’s nine validator keys. Its account describes later movement through intermediary wallets, Tornado Cash, swaps to bitcoin, bitcoin mixing and deposits to crypto-to-fiat services. The sequence illustrates that bridge infrastructure can be exploited or feature in the movement of stolen funds, while mixing is a separate later technique. It is not evidence that routine bridge customers are engaged in laundering. Chainalysis’s account of the Ronin theft and fund movements describes that incident.
ChipMixer
In its March 2023 announcement of an international law-enforcement takedown, DOJ described ChipMixer as accepting bitcoin, commingling it with other customers’ funds and making transactions harder to trace. DOJ alleged that ChipMixer processed more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency connected to unlawful activity between August 2017 and March 2023. This is an allegation about that service and period, not a measure of all mixer use.
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DOJ also said more than $700 million in bitcoin associated with wallets designated as stolen funds—including funds related to the Ronin and Harmony bridge heists—was processed through ChipMixer. The wording matters: the amount is associated with wallets designated as stolen funds, and the announcement does not establish that every amount was knowingly laundered by the service. DOJ’s 2023 ChipMixer announcement provides the allegations and figures.
Blender.io and Sinbad.io
In January 2025, DOJ announced an indictment accusing three defendants of operating Blender.io and Sinbad.io. Its announcement also recounted OFAC sanctions against Blender.io in May 2022 and Sinbad.io in November 2023, as well as a coordinated disruption of Sinbad in November 2023. An indictment is an accusation, not a conviction; the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Sanctions and disruption are separate government actions, not substitutes for a court finding. The DOJ announcement states the indictment and relevant dates.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret red flags without treating them as proof
FATF’s 2020 guidance identifies risk indicators that can prompt further assessment, including anonymity-enhancing technology, unusual transaction patterns, unexplained size or frequency, sender and recipient profiles, and the source of funds or wealth. A red flag is a reason to investigate, not a standalone finding of laundering. FATF’s red-flag indicators for virtual assets provide the broader framework.
- Observed transaction: What a ledger records, such as a transfer or contract interaction.
- Analytical inference: A proposed connection between transactions or addresses, with its supporting basis and uncertainty.
- Attribution: A claim that an address or service is controlled by a person or organization; proximity in a transaction graph alone may not establish that control.
- Legal status: Whether a source describes an allegation, sanction, conviction or court finding. These terms are not interchangeable.
Numbers from individual cases also measure different things. Bitcoin Fog’s reported transaction volume and transaction-time valuation, ChipMixer’s alleged processing amount over a defined period, and Chainalysis’s figures for funds from illicit addresses sent to bridges have different populations, timeframes and legal contexts. They should not be compared as if they were one common measure of mixer or bridge activity.
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