Some customer and transaction data was seized by the government in the process of the investigation, it said. Given that the people behind those activities often reside in other countries outside of Germany, where criminal activities like this are “tolerated or even protected,” the authorities noted it may be nearly impossible for German government officials to prosecute them.

The DePIN sector, which stands for decentralized physical infrastructure, could help existing networks scale and innovate, but several risks including unclear regulations could stifle growth, said the Wall Street credit ratings agency Moody’s Ratings on Tuesday in its inaugural report about the sector.