BitcoinFog

BitcoinFog (Bitcoin Fog) — Services

BitcoinFog (more commonly written Bitcoin Fog) is best known as a Bitcoin “mixer” / “tumbler” service—a custodial laundering-style service that accepted users’ bitcoin deposits and returned different coins in an attempt to obscure transaction provenance. It operated primarily as a darknet service accessible via Tor, and became widely associated with illicit finance flows from darknet markets and other criminal activity. (justice.gov)

Historical identity and operator

U.S. authorities identify Roman Sterlingov (dual Russian–Swedish national) as the operator of Bitcoin Fog from 2011 through 2021. A federal jury in Washington, D.C. convicted him on March 12, 2024, and he was sentenced on November 8, 2024 to 12 years and 6 months in prison, in addition to major forfeiture orders. (justice.gov)

Status of the service / the name today

Bitcoin Fog is described in public reporting as having ceased operation in 2021 (around the time of Sterlingov’s arrest and the subsequent case timeline). (justice.gov)

Because the name “BitcoinFog/Bitcoin Fog” has a long-running reputation and has historically been linked to scams and phishing lookalikes, a bare URL such as https://BitcoinFog is not, by itself, a reliable identifier of any “official” service. Even within Bitcoin community documentation, editors have repeatedly noted confusion between domains and the presence of fraudulent links. (en.bitcoin.it)

In plain terms

In the Bitcoin ecosystem, “BitcoinFog / Bitcoin Fog” is generally understood not as a legitimate modern privacy tool, but as the name of a notorious early-era custodial mixer that became a prominent law-enforcement case and is now largely referenced historically rather than as a reputable active service. (justice.gov)