Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A6962603036733054976
Tornado Cash Helped Criminals Launder More than $7 Billion of Virtual Currencies Blacklisted by U.S. Department of the Treasury:
https://lnkd.in/gsK6FVAy:
IN-DEPTH Latest on #TornadoCash: https://lnkd.in/g7vY8pRj :
The #Treasury Department on Monday prohibited #Americans from using the #cryptocurrency #platform #TornadoCash, saying the service has helped #criminals #launder more than $7 billion of virtual currencies. The crackdown was the U.S. government’s latest effort to rein in the crypto industry, as #lawmakers and #regulators grow increasingly concerned over the #volatility of #virtual #currencies and their role in facilitating #hacking and other crimes. Calling the platform a “#threat to U.S. #NationalSecurity,” the Treasury Department placed Tornado Cash on a #blacklist of entities, making it #illegal for Americans to send or receive #money using the service.
“Despite public assurances otherwise, Tornado Cash has repeatedly failed to impose #effective #controls designed to stop it from #laundering #funds for #malicious #cyber #actors.”
Criminals have long used virtual currencies to transact anonymously, exchanging #digital #coins for drugs or other illicit wares. But the #anonymity of #crypto doesn’t provide blanket #security: Crypto transactions are recorded on #publicly #viewable #ledgers called #blockchains, allowing #law #enforcement officials to follow the money.
Platforms like Tornado Cash are designed to make that kind of tracking harder. These #crypto “#mixers” receive multiple streams of transactions, then combine them to #obscure the #origin and #destination of the #funds. According to the Treasury Department, Tornado Cash was used to launder more than $455 million in crypto stolen this year by North Korean-backed hackers called the Lazarus Group.
As the #market for #digital #currencies has grown, the federal government has increasingly cracked down on crypto companies, which are #lightly #regulated. #Tether, a #stablecoin company, was fined last year by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for #misstatements about its #reserves, while the Justice Department brought #InsiderTrading charges last month against a former employee of #Coinbase, the largest U.S. #crypto #exchange. The cryptocurrency exchange #Kraken is also under investigation by the Treasury Department for possible #violations of U.S. #sanctions.
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