April 26, 2024

Tornado Cash co-founder's GitHub account suspended due to US sanctions

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Tornado Cash co-founder's GitHub account suspended due to US sanctions

The GitHub account of one of the co-founders of Tornado Cash, Roman Semenov, was blocked after the US Treasury Department added the site to the sanctions list.

According to Semenov, although he personally was notincluded in the sanctions list, he still had to face the consequences of blocking the resource. The Tornado Cash co-founder said that blocking his GitHub account was “illogical.” However, it appears that he is unofficially considered a sanctioned entity, and therefore downloading any open source software from him would be considered illegal. 

Let us remind you that yesterday the US Treasury Departmentannounced the blocking of all addresses associated with Tornado Cash. According to Blockchain Association policy director Jake Chervinsky, the US Treasury “overstepped the mark” by confusing the real attackers with those whose tools they use. Coin Center CEO Jerry Brito shares the same opinion.

“Sanctions are not imposed on somespecific attacker, but all Americans who may want to use this automated tool to protect their privacy while transacting online, and whose freedom is being curtailed without any due process,” he said.

Formerly US Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren(Elizabeth Warren) has put forward a new anti-cryptocurrency initiative, proposing a bill that would prohibit banks from providing services related to digital assets.