Tornado Cash: US Treasury Says No, But Code Says Yes
The US Treasury has said that using Tornado Cash is strictly forbidden, but that interacting with its code is not.
As the U.S. Treasury Department published a guide on September 13 with a series of steps for U.S. citizens to follow in order to withdraw their funds from Tornado Cash, it is important to note that this process may take some time. However, once completed, citizens will have access to their cash with no fees or restrictions.
It is disappointing to see a service like Tornado Cash shut down due to money laundering. This just goes to show that even with transaction obfuscation features in place, it is still possible for bad actors to use a platform for illicit purposes. Hopefully, this will be a lesson for other similar services to improve their compliance and anti-money laundering measures.
Apply for a license to withdraw funds from your account.
As the Treasury Department's guidelines state, any US user of Tornado Cash who deposited funds on the platform before August 8 must apply for a specific license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in order to withdraw them.
“U.S. persons or persons conducting transactions within U.S. jurisdiction may request a specific license from OFAC to engage in transactions involving the subject virtual currency.”
The new requirements for cryptocurrency transactions will help to keep user information more safe and secure. By requiring users to provide information about their transactions, including the wallet addresses of both the sender and the beneficiary, crypto exchanges will be able to better monitor activity and protect users' information. This is a positive step forward for the industry, and will help to make cryptocurrencies more user-friendly and accessible.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has reiterated the sanctions against Tornado Cash, stating that "U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions involving Tornado Cash." Therefore, using the platform would be considered a violation of "U.S.
U.S. Bans Tornado Cash, But Allows Interaction With Its Code
This is good news for those who value free speech and open access to information. It means that the government's sanctions do not extend to preventing people from interacting with Tornado Cash's open source code. This should end the speculation and debate about the scope of the sanctions and how they might conflict with free speech rights.
“U.S. persons would not be prohibited by U.S. sanctions regulations from copying the open-source code and making it available online for others to view, as well as discussing, teaching about, or including open-source code in written publications, such as textbooks, absent additional facts.”
The Tornado Cash team is disappointed that its GitHub accounts have been banned, but is grateful that a fork of its code has been preserved by Johns Hopkins for teaching and research purposes. The team remains committed to its mission of providing privacy-preserving financial tools for all, and will continue to work on its codebase and collaborate with others in the community to achieve this goal.
Here’s the list of Tornado Cash resources that were banned
– Tornado Cash @GitHub organization
– personal @GitHub accounts of TC contributors
– all $USDC on Tornado Cash contracts @circlepay
– @infura_io RPC
– @AlchemyPlatform RPC
– https://t.co/SHvgEjTOMV domain @eth_limo—
Tornado.cash
The arrest of Alexey Pertsev, one of the developers of Tornado Cash, has sparked outrage in the crypto community. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., has funded a class action lawsuit against the Treasury Department to defend users who were affected by the sanctions. This is a major development in the crypto world, as a major exchange is taking action to protect its users. This will likely set a precedent for other exchanges to follow suit.
It is commendable that Coinbase's legal team is using Tornado Cash to send donations to Ukraine anonymously. This demonstrates that the platform is truly committed to providing users with privacy and security. With the increasing threats of hacking and government surveillance, it is more important than ever for people to have access to platforms like Tornado Cash.
The post US Treasury Department: Users Will Need a License to Withdraw Funds From Tornado Cash appeared first on CryptoPotato. The US Treasury Department has announced that users will need a license to withdraw funds from Tornado Cash, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol.
