TL; DR
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Tornado Cash allowed users to mix their coins with a slew of other people’s coins, clouding their origins to the point of complete obscurity.
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While this was perfect for law-abiding citizens who wanted to maintain their financial privacy, it was also a great solution for not-so-savory characters looking to launder money.
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Roman Semenov and Roman Storm (R-squared, if you will) have been charged with three conspiracy charges in an indictment that was revealed last week.
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Going forward, regulatory pressure will be placed on all “black box” privacy enforcement functions within the crypto world, while subject to US jurisdiction.
Full story
Do you know how Google Maps records your location every 5 minutes? No? Oh.
If you go to the “Location History” section of your Google account, you’re in for a rude surprise.
Fortunately, there is a way to do that shut it down.
…but imagine if it wasn’t!
In the crypto world, almost all your transactions are public and traceable to everyone.
ICYMI: Tornado Cash set out to solve that problem by allowing users to combine their coins with a slew of other people’s coins, obscuring their origins to the point of complete obscurity.
…only problem with the whole system was:
While this was perfect for law-abiding citizens who wanted to maintain their financial privacy, it was also a great solution for not-so-savory characters looking to launder money.
As a result, the use of Tornado Cash was approved by the US Department of Justice. That’s the story so far…
The last headline is this:
Roman Semenov and Roman Storm (R-squared, if you will) have been charged with three conspiracy charges in an indictment that was revealed last week.
These are no light costs! The indictment alleges that Tornado Cash was used by the North Korean hacking group ‘Lazarus’ to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.
What does this mean for the future? Our guess:
Like the aftermath of that big house party you threw in high school that led to your parents enforcing strict rules while living under their roof…
Regulatory pressure will be placed on all “black box” privacy enforcement functions within the crypto world, while subject to US jurisdiction.
This means that if there is no option for law enforcement or government authorities to access your financial information (for example, through a warrant or tax audit), problems will arise.
Either way, it makes sense that a happy medium should be found, where privacy options are provided.
Otherwise, the crypto world will continue to feel very ‘Google location history with no off button’.