Tornado Cash added to OFAC sanctions lists

the difference between app-layer privacy and protocol-layer privacy is coming into sharp focus

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…aaand here’s the ECC press release in which they hope that the regulatory alligator, now munching on a bite of Tornado Cash, will turn its nose up at ECC, or at least eat ECC last. US Treasury announcement: ECC's engagement on policy for economic freedom - Electric Coin Company

I posted about this: "Self-custody" & "self-hosted" - #4 by MikeInMass

Blind Squirrel meet nut.

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Quick questions: what would stop them to block any transactions coming from Zcash to Ethereum using any bridge? What would stop them to suspend github devs working on Zcash?

ye…

:dart: foresight.

So far this morning, Jimmy Fallon, Brian Armstrong, Steve Aoki, Shaq, ETHDev, and many others have been dusted with .1 ETH routed through Tornado…

Do you have expertise on the whether there’s legal risk for a service like this or for attorneys accepting shielded money in OFAC cases?

The research revealed no evidence of any substantive use of Zcash for money laundering, terrorism financing or trade in illicit goods and services.

So whatever the amount is that makes money laundering “substansive” ( I guess on the order of a few tens or hundreds of millions), it could be that ZCash has already had that much laundered through it, and once discovered, ZCash will meet the same fate as Tornado Cash?

I think there is long-tail regulatory risk for ZEC, but it’s hard for me to quantify it. It is critically important to invest in education, adoption, and to work with regulators.

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I am not competent to speak on this.

But, important to note that receiving shielded funds and not disclosing is different than receiving transparent funds coming out of a shielded pool/mixer/washer

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It is critically important to […] work with regulators.

Hey look, I found a picture of a guy demonstrating working with regulators.

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I am encouraged by ECC’s willingness to engage with regulators and its recent hire of Gary Weinstein as Head of Regulatory. I think it’s a critically important component of $ZEC.

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Note his involvement in last prisoner project. I imagine he has interesting ideas to bring from that playground to this one.

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Gary is a star - a huge asset to the Zcash community. Also Paul Brigner, our head of US policy and coalition building is doing a remarkable job bringing people and groups together in DC, and introducing ECC into circles previously not easily accessible to us.

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I was pleased to see Coinbase publicly funding litigation to challenge the tornado cash sanctions: https://blog.coinbase.com/defending-privacy-in-crypto-e09db33dece8

Any reason to be cynical about this?

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We can be cynical about anything we put our minds to, Z.

I say no.

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Treasury Designates Roman Semenov, Co-Founder of Sanctioned Virtual Currency Mixer Tornado Cash. Roman Storm has also been designated and has been arrested. Treasury Designates Roman Semenov, Co-Founder of Sanctioned Virtual Currency Mixer Tornado Cash

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This is chilling.

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They notified Roman Semenov of the NK address two years after they destroyed the admin keys.

It is interesting that it took one year longer in the USA to charge and arrest the developers compared to the Netherlands. My guess is that they are expecting a tougher court battle in the USA, and have been building up a stronger case.