Crypto Mixer Tornade now officially illegal in the USA
8/10/2022, 06:05 PM
The United States Treasury has recently taken a significant step by sanctioning Tornado Cash, a mixer for virtual currencies. This is after it was revealed that the company has laundered more than $7 billion in virtual currency since its inception in 2019. This includes more than $455 million stolen by the Lazarus hacking group. The Lazarus Group is a state-sponsored cybercrime organization operated by North Korea.
Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, has emphasized that Tornado Cash has continuously ignored regulations that are supposed to prevent the company from regularly washing money for criminals and those who help them. He also explained that the Treasury will continue to take aggressive action against mixers that launder virtual currency for criminals and those who help them.
Tornado Cash is an Ethereum mixer service that anonymizes transactions and makes them untraceable by using zkSnarks proofs and smart contracts. The mixer allows users to completely anonymize the source of their funds and hidden on-chain activity and make it almost impossible to trace the transactions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a US government agency that enforces sanctions. These sanctions can include freezing assets, banning travel, and prohibiting transactions. OFAC has recently added several Ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. This means that US citizens are not allowed to transact with these addresses.
As a result of the sanctions, it is now illegal for any US person to engage in trade, financial transactions, or "other transactions" with Tornado Cash or any of the associated Ethereum wallet addresses. "Other transactions" is broadly defined and could include simply visiting the Tornado website.
This could have a major impact on the Ethereum community, as many popular protocols and services are based in the US. For example, the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is based in the US. If US citizens are not allowed to transact with Uniswap, they may be forced to use a different DEX that is not subject to US sanctions.
Similarly, popular DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO and Compound are also based in the US. If US citizens are not allowed to transact with these protocols, they may be forced to use alternatives that are not subject to US sanctions.
This could also have a major impact on Ethereum miners and stakers. Many of them are based in the US, and if they are not allowed to transact with certain Ethereum addresses, they may be forced tocensortransactions or move their operations offshore.
Overall, the addition of Ethereum addresses to the SDN list could have a major impact on the Ethereum community. US citizens may be forced to use different exchanges, protocols, and services that are not subject to US sanctions. Miners and stakers may also be forced to censorship transactions or move their operations offshore.
Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, has emphasized that Tornado Cash has continuously ignored regulations that are supposed to prevent the company from regularly washing money for criminals and those who help them. He also explained that the Treasury will continue to take aggressive action against mixers that launder virtual currency for criminals and those who help them.
- https://tornado.cash/ offline
- Tornade related adresses banned from further trading
- Banned since 08.10.2022
- laundered more than $7 billion in virtual currency
Tornado Cash is an Ethereum mixer service that anonymizes transactions and makes them untraceable by using zkSnarks proofs and smart contracts. The mixer allows users to completely anonymize the source of their funds and hidden on-chain activity and make it almost impossible to trace the transactions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a US government agency that enforces sanctions. These sanctions can include freezing assets, banning travel, and prohibiting transactions. OFAC has recently added several Ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. This means that US citizens are not allowed to transact with these addresses.
As a result of the sanctions, it is now illegal for any US person to engage in trade, financial transactions, or "other transactions" with Tornado Cash or any of the associated Ethereum wallet addresses. "Other transactions" is broadly defined and could include simply visiting the Tornado website.
This could have a major impact on the Ethereum community, as many popular protocols and services are based in the US. For example, the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is based in the US. If US citizens are not allowed to transact with Uniswap, they may be forced to use a different DEX that is not subject to US sanctions.
Similarly, popular DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO and Compound are also based in the US. If US citizens are not allowed to transact with these protocols, they may be forced to use alternatives that are not subject to US sanctions.
This could also have a major impact on Ethereum miners and stakers. Many of them are based in the US, and if they are not allowed to transact with certain Ethereum addresses, they may be forced tocensortransactions or move their operations offshore.
Overall, the addition of Ethereum addresses to the SDN list could have a major impact on the Ethereum community. US citizens may be forced to use different exchanges, protocols, and services that are not subject to US sanctions. Miners and stakers may also be forced to censorship transactions or move their operations offshore.