Popular Ethereum-based coin mixing service Tornado Cash has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, according to a Monday announcement. A slew of associated cryptocurrency addresses have also been added to the blacklist.
The move shows that American authorities are determined to go after different parts of the crypto supply chain that are used for nefarious activities.
In May, the U.S. government sanctioned Blender, another coin mixing service, for allegedly helping North Korea launder some of the funds stolen from Axie Infinity.
Coin mixing services are used to obscure the origin of particular transactions, which makes them a hotbed for money laundering.
After gaining significant popularity, the decentralized coin mixer became a go-to tool for covering the tracks of nefarious actors. In March, one of the founders of Tornado Cash opined that it was "technically impossible" to enforce sanctions against the controversial coin mixer.
Gamza KhanzadaevUnder Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson claims that Tordano Cash has not prevented cyber actors with efficient controls in a statement.
In April, Tornado Cash announced that it had blocked crypto addresses sanctioned by the U.S. government from its frontend.
Gamza Khanzadaev
Godfrey Benjamin
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov