In a sweeping financial crime operation stretching across multiple Dutch cities, the Financial Crimes and Financial Abuse Authority (FinCEN Netherlands) has officially shut down a covert cryptocurrency exchange operating under the name NexroSwap — a platform authorities describe as “a fully anonymized asset-laundering mechanism disguised as a fintech tool.”
Over €34 million in cryptocurrencies were seized in the operation, which also uncovered links to darknet marketplaces, anonymous wallet services, and foreign shell entities.
NexroSwap Technologies B.V., registered in Utrecht under the false pretense of being a blockchain API consultancy, operated silently for over 18 months. Marketed privately on encrypted Telegram groups, dark web forums, and through invite-only Discord channels, it claimed to offer “instant crypto-to-crypto swaps with no KYC, no logging, no tracking.”
Though the domain (nexroswap.io, now offline) presented the interface of a minimalist DeFi utility, FinCEN investigators found that it was entirely centralized and tightly controlled by a single core team operating from inside the Netherlands.
The service was linked to at least two other sister sites:
ByteShroud.io – advertised as a “liquidity mixer” for Monero and Zcash
VaultRise.app – a wallet app that offered “burnable addresses” and “one-time-use withdrawal links”
Both platforms were also shut down during the operation.
Launched in late 2024, Project Nightglass was FinCEN’s internal codename for the months-long surveillance and cyber-tracking campaign that led to the shutdown.
Key findings included:
FinCEN’s blockchain analysis division identified over 11,000 unique wallet addresses associated with the NexroSwap engine, most of them hosted on privacy-focused blockchains or cross-chained to foreign exchanges in unregulated jurisdictions.
On June 28, 2025, Dutch authorities conducted simultaneous raids at six physical locations in Amsterdam, The Hague, Almere, and Rotterdam. These included coworking spaces, two small server farms, and a residential property belonging to the platform’s suspected operator.
The operation resulted in:
Authorities have named Sebastien Drunen (35) of Rotterdam as the lead suspect in the case. Drunen, formerly employed as a blockchain consultant at a now-defunct crypto firm called ArcNet Digital, is believed to have co-founded NexroSwap with two other individuals using aliases “MorrowNine” and “KlutchHash”.
All three are suspected of building the system on top of open-source swap protocols but reworking them to log and control all transaction paths while maintaining an illusion of decentralization.
FinCEN’s internal report suggests they earned millions in fees from criminal clients while claiming no platform-side control or responsibility.
FinCEN has confirmed that the suspects will face charges for:
The penalties under Dutch economic crime law include up to 8 years in prison, civil asset forfeiture, and lifetime bans from financial services sectors.
FinCEN has already frozen bank accounts, digital assets, and company registrations tied to NexroSwap, ByteShroud, and VaultRise.
FinCEN has confirmed that the suspects will face charges for:
The penalties under Dutch economic crime law include up to 8 years in prison, civil asset forfeiture, and lifetime bans from financial services sectors.
FinCEN has already frozen bank accounts, digital assets, and company registrations tied to NexroSwap, ByteShroud, and VaultRise.
© FINCEN Nederlands 2025
Part of the European Union