A major operation to disrupt illicit IPTV and streaming services has brought together the audiovisual and cryptocurrency industries.
With intelligence revealing cryptocurrency now accounts for some 20 per cent of payment methods offered by digital pirates, law enforcement agencies led by Europol’s IPC3 Unit, in collaboration with EUIPO, launched a week-long “crypto sprint” initiative designed to trace and dismantle financial channels supporting content piracy.
Representing the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), cybersecurity provider Irdeto and the Premier League supported the unprecedented operation alongside cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance, and law enforcement agencies from more than 15 European countries.
Mark Mulready, VP of cyber services at Irdeto, said, “The intelligence shows that cryptocurrency has fast become a new payment method used by digital pirates. This operation marks a turning point in how we combat piracy by cutting off the payment mechanisms that fuel illicit services and striking at the very heart of their business model”.
Leveraging Chainanalysis’s blockchain intelligence solutions, investigators from Irdeto were able to trace complex money laundering patterns, said the company, mapping links between pirates, consumers and financial intermediaries. The data was visualised by investigators using Maltego Graph (Desktop) enabling connections to be identified and spotlit in a holistic and intuitive way.
Acting on intelligence from the operation, Binance and Coinbase intervened to prevent further abuse of their services, reinforcing the integrity of their platforms.
“This joint effort underscores the importance and power of public and private collaboration in tackling digital crime, which has been integral to our work at Binance,” said EMEA head of investigations at the company, Lilija Mazeikiene. “It also highlights how crime cannot easily hide on the blockchain, where the pseudo-anonymous nature of crypto makes illicit transactions easier to uncover than cash and other forms of payment. Digital pirates will soon realise that crypto will make it harder for them to hide.”
Nick Wright, manager of global intelligence, EMEA at Coinbase, added, “We welcome opportunities to collaborate closely with law enforcement and trusted partners. Crypto leaves a visible record, and when we combine that transparency with strong compliance controls, we can disrupt criminal activity that seeks to exploit digital payments.”
The operation resulted in:
- 69 sites identified and targeted.
- 25 illicit IPTV services were referred to the participating crypto service providers for disruption.
- Investigations are ongoing for 44 additional sites at various stages.
- The combined estimated annual traffic for these 69 sites is approximately 11,821,006.
- Cryptocurrency valued at an estimated $55,000,000 has been traced through various accounts associated with these services.
- Several of these services remain under continued investigation by both public and private entities.
Miruna Herovanu, AAPA executive director, commented, “Partnerships like this are essential to protecting both content creators and consumers. When industries and governments collaborate, we send a clear message: piracy will not pay.”
