Tornado Cash mixing service is now blacklisted in US

[bitmover]

So it means that a group of whales can attack a certain wallet that holds huge fund on a DeFi by sending tainted tokens coming from Tornado cash.

Tokens are not fungible , like eth and btc.

Tokens can be freeze by the central authority which created them (if specified in the contract,  which usually is for stablecoins)

If the Tokens are really "tainted", they are probably already frozen. If not  they are still worth money

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[DaveF]

Random piece of news stating the guy was arrested not as a TC developer but because he was actively involved in cash recycling.
Not that this changes much in the situation, but it is only a bit less worrying as he wasn't arrested for only writing code.

Do you have a link to it? I was thinking that something along those lines was what happened.

Although not 100% the same it goes to the automotive world of emission control defeating devices. They are 100% legal to buy / sell / own / design / build and so on. You just cannot use them on any car that is run on public roads.

I see a lot more of this happening over time since a lot, could even be most or all of code that does mixing is open source. It's pointless to even bother with the developers. You go after the people running it and making money from it.

-Dave

[dkbit98]

Random piece of news stating the guy was arrested not as a TC developer but because he was actively involved in cash recycling.
Not that this changes much in the situation, but it is only a bit less worrying as he wasn't arrested for only writing code.

Can you post source link for this information and how exactly did they found him?
It's funny coincidence that in the same time this arrest happened, lot of github accounts with tornado cash code contribution got deleted/banned.
So writing source code was obviously a big problem for someone when he had to do all this, and maybe this is not so important but in July Tornado Cash Classic UI became fully open-source

[bbc.reporter]

Random piece of news stating the guy was arrested not as a TC developer but because he was actively involved in cash recycling.
Not that this changes much in the situation, but it is only a bit less worrying as he wasn't arrested for only writing code.

It should not change anything because he was really being arrested for writing code for protection and enhancement of privacy and they presently are using mainstream media news to make it appear that he is a money launderer and a criminal hehehe. This is head shaking. Cryptospace developers should go back to being anonymous.

@ETFbitcoin. It was cleary a question for the purpose of supporting the argument only hehehehe.

I know, but i wanted to mention it's not impossible.

Also, on the 1990s case, was it in America? Was it also when it was declared that code is speech and also protected by the first amendment?

Yes, it was on America. I don't know the details, but people usually call it crypto wars in 90s.

Is it Bernstein vs. the Department of Justice?

[fillippone]

Random piece of news stating the guy was arrested not as a TC developer but because he was actively involved in cash recycling.
Not that this changes much in the situation, but it is only a bit less worrying as he wasn't arrested for only writing code.

Apparently this is the reason.
The fact he was a TC developers has little to do with the arrest. The reason why he was arrested is because money laundering:

Alleged Crypto Ransomware Money Launderer Extradited to US

The US Department of Justice accuses Denis Dubnikov of laundering more than $400,000 in funds lifted from Ryuk ransomware attacks as part of a $70 million scheme, according to a statement by the Department of Justice on Wednesday.

Dubnikov and others involved in the scheme are alleged to have laundered funds from the attacks through various national and international transactions in a bid to conceal the funds’ provenance.

This means he was directly involved in the money laundering, not only providing the TC protocol.

Then, we can discuss why/if money laundering is a criminal offence or not.

[stompix]

This means he was directly involved in the money laundering, not only providing the TC protocol.

I was curious about something when I read the DOJ release:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alleged-russian-money-launderer-extradited-netherlands-us

In July 2019, Dubnikov allegedly laundered more than $400,000 in Ryuk ransom proceeds. Those involved in the conspiracy laundered at least $70 million in ransom proceeds.

The first question that came to mind, was when was tornadocash launched and, no surprise, "Tornado Cash was launched in August 2019 ".
So, I think that there is another important thing that might have to be discussed although we will probably never know:
- Was tornadocash compromised since launch and it didn't offer the claimed privacy at all?
I have a really bad feeling about this, I can remember how the alpha bay then hansa market episode went.

[fillippone]

- Was tornadocash compromised since launch and it didn't offer the claimed privacy at all?
I have a really bad feeling about this, I can remember how the alpha bay then hansa market episode went.

Dear lord.
This would be so worrisome.
But in the end, having a protocol completely unlinked from a central entity, as also the Wasabi saga showed, is of utter importance for the privacy of the users.

TC being a rotten product acting only as a shell for proper laundering operation would be a disastrous outcome for every privacy inspired user.

[AdolfinWolf]

...

Pretty sure this guy was arrested earlier. I think there's actually two people of age 29 that got arrested, one of whom being the developer of TC.

So, I think that there is another important thing that might have to be discussed although we will probably never know:
- Was tornadocash compromised since launch and it didn't offer the claimed privacy at all?
I have a really bad feeling about this, I can remember how the alpha bay then hansa market episode went.

You can use google ?
I'm pretty sure at least some people have audited the contract code since then. Tornado cash was fully decentralized, non-custodial, unlike most of these garbage mixers. perhaps there is a way to backdoor the cryptography they use (zk-snark), no idea.

[fillippone]

Another worrying aspect is the fact that Tornado Cash has been deleted by GitHub.
Please remember GitHub hosts also Bitcoin Core code.

Nothing really that can potentially stop Bitcoin, but once again. it's a slippery slope.


Reference:

'It Doesn’t Change Anything' Says Tornado Cash After Code Disappears From GitHub

[dkbit98]

Another worrying aspect is the fact that Tornado Cash has been deleted by GitHub.
Please remember GitHub hosts also Bitcoin Core code.

There is nothing really special about github except the fact that most people got used to using it, but knowing that microsoft purchased it should make people switch to some alternative, and Git is already decentralized.
It's not that hard to self host bitcoin code, but for start t would be smart to make cloned code to Gitlab, Gitea or Gogs that are all open source.
They would really have to switch off internet if they want to stop Bitcoin, but they can much easier control shitcoins and PoS coins.

[fillippone]

Another worrying aspect is the fact that Tornado Cash has been deleted by GitHub.
Please remember GitHub hosts also Bitcoin Core code.

There is nothing really special about github except the fact that most people got used to using it, but knowing that microsoft purchased it should make people switch to some alternative, and Git is already decentralized.
It's not that hard to self host bitcoin code, but for start t would be smart to make cloned code to Gitlab, Gitea or Gogs that are all open source.
They would really have to switch off internet if they want to stop Bitcoin, but they can much easier control shitcoins and PoS coins.

As I said, there are many other alternatives to GitHub, and probably we will soon have some kind of decentralized web (something built on Holepunch maybe?).
But the idea that a code can be taken down without being used only for fraudulent activities is a very worrying aspect of the centralization of Github. We all shall start thinking about alternatives (thinking about Bitcoin Core repository).

[Bitcoin_Arena]

[Tornado cash was fully decentralized, non-custodial, unlike most of these garbage mixers.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, pardon my not so technical knowledge background.

How is a service that's "fully decentralized", not have an option for a tor version or even have an option for one to run their own node and run a network of a censorship resistant decentralized service? I mean as soon as the sanction came into play, the main website went offline, default RPC protocols blocked, GitHub deleted, etc

[fillippone]

[Tornado cash was fully decentralized, non-custodial, unlike most of these garbage mixers.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, pardon my not so technical knowledge background.

How is a service that's "fully decentralized", not have an option for a tor version or even have an option for one to run their own node and run a network of a censorship resistant decentralized service? I mean as soon as the sanction came into play, the main website went offline, default RPC protocols blocked, GitHub deleted, etc

Guess what? It wasn’t decentralised.
As wasabi debacle showed, fully decentralised, censorship resistant, privacy preserving reliable mixers are still to come.

GitHub and Discord servers being taken down is a different (sad) story, involving our trust toward platforms should be neutral.

[TryNinja]

How is a service that's "fully decentralized", not have an option for a tor version or even have an option for one to run their own node and run a network of a censorship resistant decentralized service? I mean as soon as the sanction came into play, the main website went offline, default RPC protocols blocked, GitHub deleted, etc

Tornado Cash's contract is still up and running, that's where the decentralization comes from. You could claim that it's too hard to run your own Ethereum node (for the RPC access) and host your own copy of their frontend, but this is still possible.

[bitmover]

I just found some interesting information that I would like to share

Nearly 41% of all aether addresses have been 2 hops from Tornado cash. More than 90% 4 gopa from it.

 https://twitter.com/ElBarto_Crypto/status/1558428428763815942

This proves how it is impossible to accuse people just because they use mixers . And how easy it is to just make 4 transactions and become "clean"

[fillippone]

]

This proves how it is impossible to accuse people just because they use mixers . And how easy it is to just make 4 transactions and become "clean"

Protecting privacy isn’t a crime.
The huge majority of mixing services are doing mixes because of perfectly legitimate reasons.
I am happy to see that many users are using mixers: it should be a default way of doing transactions (and soon it will be with Cross Input Signature Aggregation).

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Tornado Cash's contract is still up and running, that's where the decentralization comes from. You could claim that it's too hard to run your own Ethereum node (for the RPC access) and host your own copy of their frontend, but this is still possible.

I agree that contract is still up and running, but of what use is it if an average Joe can not access the platform to mix his Ether?

Where is the said contract going to get volumes of ETH so that it's possible to obfuscate them and thus make it a fully functional decentralized mixer that anyone can access?

IMO, I believe decentralization becomes more meaningful when it involves masses as well, just like what we are seeing with Bitcoin right now 

[bbc.reporter]

How is a service that's "fully decentralized", not have an option for a tor version or even have an option for one to run their own node and run a network of a censorship resistant decentralized service? I mean as soon as the sanction came into play, the main website went offline, default RPC protocols blocked, GitHub deleted, etc

Tornado Cash's contract is still up and running, that's where the decentralization comes from. You could claim that it's too hard to run your own Ethereum node (for the RPC access) and host your own copy of their frontend, but this is still possible.

Users can also interact with the smart contracts directly without the front end. Those smart contracts are also immutable because the ownership has been renounced.

Also, it has begun. Blocking addresses is expected from centralized exchanges, however, a Defi exchange is also blocking addresses that connects to Tornado Cash hehehe. This is head shaking. They might be very afraid of being arrested and given a lawsuit for moneylaundering.



Uniswap the Decentralised exchange has blocked 253 crypto addresses over the last four months that it worked with TRM Labs, which is a blockchain analytics firm. The reason behind the blocking was tied to connections with stolen funds.

This makes it the first ever time Uniswap disclosed data which is related to wallet blacklisting. These stolen funds were related to transaction mixing services that included Tornado Cash which was received as sanction from the US Treasury.

Source https://bitcoinist.com/uniswap-blocked-253-crypto-addresses-heres-why/

[TryNinja]

Users can also interact with the smart contracts directly without the front end. Those smart contracts are also immutable because the ownership has been renounced.

Yes, the problem is that some of these are already being blocked on the RPC level. So if you use Infura or Alchemy (which are the default on Metamask), you can't interact with the smart contract. You would need to find a free RPC or run your own.

Also, it has begun. Blocking addresses is expected from centralized exchanges, however, a Defi exchange is also blocking addresses that connects to Tornado Cash hehehe. This is head shaking. They might be very afraid of being arrested and given a lawsuit for moneylaundering.

There is also an open source browser extension that intercepts and bypasses the requests responsible for checking if your address is dirty/sanctioned: https://github.com/qd-qd/pineapple

[bbc.reporter]

News update.

A small group of people from the cryptospace community and what appears to also be from the opensource development community are starting to organize themselves to protest against the arrest of Alex Pertsev.

Everyone can sign the petition in their change.org page.

https://www.change.org/p/open-source-development-is-in-danger-take-action-before-it-s-too-late-opensourcenotacrime-privacynotacrime-freealex-freepertsev-freealekseypertsev

If you are in Amsterdam, you can join the rally.

https://www.meetup.com/cryptocanal/events/287867009



The global crypto community is spearheading a campaign to raise awareness about Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev’s arrest earlier this month.

The supporters of Alexey Pertsev, the top contributor to Tornado Cash’s open-source code, have raised 2,070 signatures in a petition to free him as part of a campaign to raise awareness about his recent arrest and its potential impact on the future of open-source software. Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service sparked outrage in the crypto community after arresting Pertsev in Amsterdam on August 10—two days after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash—on suspicion of “involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering.”

Despite the significant outcry from the global crypto and open-source communities, Dutch authorities haven’t yet revealed the laws Pertsev has allegedly broken. According to a statement shared by crypto policy and advocacy group DeFi Education Fund, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service thinks that Tornado Cash was created solely for money laundering. “About the concerns, the development of a tool is not prohibited, but if a tool has been created for the purpose of committing criminal acts, for example to conceal criminal flows of money, then putting online/making available a developed tool may be punishable,” the agency told the DeFi Education Fund in an email response.

Source https://cryptobriefing.com/crypto-fans-launch-campaign-arrested-tornado-cash-developer/