Coin Center contests the most recent indictments brought against Tornado Cash.
Peter Van Valkenburgh is the research director of the blockchain advocacy non-profit group. He stated that due to the limited information in the indictment, it does not clearly show any violations.
The US Justice Department has charged Tornado Cash co-founders on Wednesday with money laundering, sanctions violations and other crimes.
Roman Semenov, Semenov’s co-founder, has also been placed on OFAC’s list of designated foreign nationals. Roman Storm was Semenov’s business partner. Both men are accused of laundering $1 billion worth of illicit money via their crypto mixing services.
Valkenburgh claimed in a blog post on Wednesday, that the allegations contained in the criminal indictment appear to be in contradiction with guidelines issued by FinCEN.
Tornado Cash is not a money transmitter, but a money-transmitting software.
The indictment, he said, lacks any factual evidence that shows that the accused are involved in money-transmission activities.
Valkenburgh’s interpretation under FinCEN of the US Bank Secrecy Law, according to which a supplier of anonymizing software does not fall within the definition of a bank. “money transmitter.”
“The indictment provides various factual allegations describing the activities the defendants performed, but all of those facts point to the defendants fitting squarely within FinCEN’s guidance on anonymizing software providers rather than them being money transmitters,” The research director wrote.
He stated also that despite the fact the government has accused the defendants for promoting Tornado Cash and earning profit from a Governance Token, and creating different features of the Tool, these actions do not represent the receiving or transferring of money.
OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022. They claimed that it enabled hackers to wash $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency. The hackers specifically targeted 45 Ethereum addresses.
Coin Center, in response, filed a complaint against the US Treasury. It claimed that sanctions levied on Tornado cash unfairly punished Americans trying to maintain their privacy by using digital assets.
Recently, the US Federal Court upheld sanctions on the cryptocurrency mixing service and dismissed an independent lawsuit backed by Coinbase. The decision has broader implications for individuals looking to use privacy focused protocols in lawful ways.
Did you know that over $140 billion dollars in Bitcoin, or about 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply, is currently locked in inaccessible wallets? Or maybe you have lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? Don’t let those funds remain out of reach! AI Seed Phrase Finder is here to help you regain access effortlessly. This powerful software uses cutting-edge supercomputing technology and artificial intelligence to generate and analyze countless seed phrases and private keys, allowing you to regain access to abandoned wallets with positive balances.
