A report from security firm SlowMist indicates that Tornado Cash receives the majority of stolen funds on Ethereum.
On August 8, the United States Department of the Treasury banned the use of the cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado cash, to all citizens of the United States. The measure responded to “national security” needs, since according to the agency, the combiner is being used by terrorist organizations to launder funds stolen in other protocols.
For some time now, Tornado Cash has been in the middle of controversy, as it is usually the medium chosen by hackers to launder the funds stolen in their attacks on Ethereum protocols, such as robbery Harmony Horizon Bridge, carried out by the Lazarus Group, a hacker organization funded by the North Korean government.
To make matters worse, the new Blockchain Security Report and AML Analysis from security firm SlowMist, points out that the 74,7% of funds laundered from attacks on the Ethereum network, about 300.160 ETH, have passed through Tornado Cash.
According to data from SlowMist, the remaining 24% (about 95.570 ETH) of the stolen funds are still in the hackers' wallets, while around 1,5% (about 6.250 ETH) have been sent to exchange or trading platforms.
In total, SlowMist data indicates that Tornado Cash could have been used to launder up to $7.000 billion in digital assets since its creation in 2019. These assets include funds stolen by the Lazarus Group, which has connections to the North Korean government, prompting the United States to sanction the use of the combiner.
Kraken's Jesse Powell hits out at Tornado Cash sanctions
During an interview with Bloomberg, Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, has spoken out against sanctions against the combinator, stating that “individuals have the right to financial privacy” and that many users turn to Tornado Cash to carry out legal operations.
Powell also believes that the sanctions are unconstitutional and that if Coin Center's plan to take the US Treasury and OFAC to court works, this sanction will have to be withdrawn.
On the other hand, the CEO of Kraken also believes that the response from part of the sector has been exaggerated and points to a attack on open source softwareSpecifically, he is referring to GitHub's decision to remove all work by Tornado Cash users. At the same time, he also believes that the sanction could be a disproportionate reaction to what happened with Terra.
Despite his opposition to the Treasury's decision and his complaints about excessive regulation, Jesse Powell assured that Kraken to halt transactions to and from addresses related to Tornado Cash.
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