Cardano Founder Supports Tornado Cash Developers

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson defended the developers of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, which was caught inunder OFAC sanctions.

According to Hoskinson, developers are not alwayscan control open source code and how users interact with it. A programmer should not go to prison for offenses that other people have committed, he emphasized.

"It's like writing a book on cooking cyanideor building a bomb. The authors have no control over how this information is used [...]. Therefore, by creating code for the protocol, the developer should not be considered an accomplice. He just wrote code that was technically exploited by attackers,” Hoskinson said.

What is Tornado Cash and how does it work?

On August 8, OFAC added the Tornado Cash website, as well as 39 Ethereum and 6 USDC addresses associated with it, to the sanctions list.

According to the department, since the creation of the mixer in 2019, attackers have used it to launder more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency. According to Elliptic, it is correct to say about $1.54 billion.

August 12 authoritiesThe Netherlands has arrested an unnamed man on suspicion of involvement in money laundering and concealing criminal financial flows through a cryptocurrency mixer. Later it became known that we were talking about Alexei Pertsev.

The authorities' decision caused a stir in the community.CEO of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange Jess Powell called sanctions against Tornado Cash unconstitutional, and TRM Labs analysts called them a challenge for compliance

A member of the Chamber also criticizedRepresentatives Tom Emmer. In his opinion, restrictions on the mixer threaten privacy and innovation. He demanded an explanation from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding OFAC's actions.

Recall that on August 22, Amsterdam hostedrally in support of Pertsev. Its participants said that open source code is not a crime, and the authorities should prosecute real attackers.

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