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The US Department of Justice has secured final legal ownership of assets tied to the Helix bitcoin mixer, completing one of the largest forfeitures ever linked to a cryptocurrency mixing service.
The court order, issued last week, follows a multi-year investigation into a platform that prosecutors say laundered $300 million for darknet market users between 2014 and 2017.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Helix crypto mixer processed at least 354,468 bitcoin over a three-year period, representing approximately $300 million in value at the time of the transactions.
The service was designed to obscure the origin and destination of funds, making it particularly attractive to users seeking anonymity for illegal activity such as drug trafficking and fraud.
“Helix was a commercial Bitcoin money laundering service that enabled darknet vendors and customers to conceal the proceeds of criminal activity,” the US Department of Justice said in its forfeiture statement.
Authorities said the Helix crypto mixer openly marketed its services to users operating on illicit darknet marketplaces, positioning itself as a tool capable of anonymizing transactions beyond the reach of law enforcement.
The service was operated by Larry Dean Harmon, who controlled the infrastructure used to mix and redistribute Bitcoin deposits.
Harmon pleaded guilty in August 2021 to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced in November 2024 to three years in federal prison, followed by supervised release.
Prosecutors said the assets forfeited under the final court order were directly traceable to laundering activity conducted through the Helix crypto mixer, granting the government clear legal title.
The Helix crypto mixer forfeiture comes amid growing debate over how privacy-enhancing crypto tools should be treated under existing US financial crime laws.
Lawmakers and regulators have increasingly argued that mixing services enable money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing.
Developers and privacy advocates counter that transaction privacy is a legitimate feature of financial technology and should not automatically imply criminal intent.
Several high-profile cases have kept the issue in the spotlight. In December, President Donald Trump said he was reviewing a potential pardon for Keonne Rodriguez, a co-founder of the Samourai Wallet mixing service who was convicted on money laundering and unlicensed money transmission charges.
“I’m taking a look at it,” Trump said when asked about a possible pardon.
Attention has also focused on the prosecution of Roman Storm, a developer associated with the Tornado Cash protocol, who was convicted last year on money laundering and sanctions-related charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly criticized the government’s approach to such cases.
“Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” Buterin said while commenting on mixer-related prosecutions.
Supporters of enforcement argue that cases like the Helix crypto mixer demonstrate how some privacy tools are deliberately structured to facilitate criminal activity rather than protect legitimate users.
The Justice Department’s action against the Helix crypto mixer comes as crypto-related crime continues to rise in scale and sophistication.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that illicit cryptocurrency addresses received a record $154 billion in 2025, underscoring why regulators have intensified enforcement efforts.
“Illicit activity reached a new high in 2025, driven by professionalized crime and increased use of crypto infrastructure,” Chainalysis said in its annual crypto crime report.
US prosecutors have also pointed to other recent cases to illustrate that crypto crime extends beyond mixers.
In one example, a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident, Ronald Spektor, was charged with stealing approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency from nearly 100 Coinbase users through phishing and social engineering schemes.
Authorities said the scheme relied on impersonation and urgency tactics rather than technical exploits, highlighting the broad range of criminal activity targeting crypto users.
For policymakers, the Helix crypto mixer forfeiture reinforces arguments that existing anti-money laundering laws must be aggressively applied to crypto services enabling anonymity at scale.
For investors and developers, the case underscores growing legal risks surrounding privacy-focused protocols operating within or touching US jurisdiction.
As enforcement actions expand and regulatory clarity remains uneven, the legacy of the Helix crypto mixer may help shape how far privacy tools can coexist with global financial crime frameworks in the years ahead.
