Cryptocurrency mixers do not necessarily have the best of reputations. Centralized solutions like these require a lot of trust to remove any taint from people’s coins.
In a way, it is a money laundering-esque tool which provides additional privacy and anonymity. Surprisingly, IOTA now has its very first mixing service, which is running on the testnet.
It’s an interesting development that may bring more privacy to this particular token in the future. It has always been interesting to see how people have responded to the concept of cryptocurrency mixers.
In the Bitcoin world, there are currently a handful of such solutions, although one of the larger services shut down a few months ago. Since Bitcoin has no privacy or anonymity traits, it is not a great tool for conducting illicit activity.
Despite this lack of privacy, criminals continue to flock to Bitcoin when it comes to scams and other types of nefarious activity.