The storm calms down – We learned it last night, the cryptocurrency mixer based on the Ethereum blockchain, Tornado Cash is back. In effect, GitHub, open-source program hosting service reportedly lifted the ban. Explanations.
Tornado Cash is back
A cryptocurrency mixer like Tornado Cash allows its users to drown the origin of sent crypto funds. Used for money laundering, a favorite weapon of the group’s North Korean hackers Lazarus according to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control ), Tornado Cash has been bannedthus depriving its users of the freedom permitted by anonymity. Blacklisted, Tornado Cash was then subject to censorship which blocked the funds of many users.
However, the direction of the wind turns. Indeed, the crypto mixer is back on in the Git Hub computer code library. Ethereum network developer and major player Preston Van Loon made the announcement on Twitter:
the media Decrypt, for its part, reports to us the statements of a GitHub spokesperson:
“GitHub’s vision is to be the global platform for developer collaboration. We carefully review government sanctions to ensure that users and customers are not affected beyond what is required by law. (…) We welcome recent government clarifications regarding publicly available source code and sanctioned entities, and have restored some public repositories. »
Wind of freedom? Breath of hope for anonymity? The reaction of OFAC, at war against anonymity and cryptocurrencies, is long overdue. Indeed, through this sanction against Tornado Cash, international regulation confirms its hunt for criminals 3.0, as shown by this seizure of Brazilian justice. The South American country imprisoned and tried Dos Santos, nicknamed the Bitcoin Pharaoh.
