Crypto Mixing Service Tornado Cash Blacklisted by Treasury Department

According to the Treasury Department, Americans cannot use Tornado Cash, a decentralized cryptocurrency mixing service. On Monday, the virtual currency mixing business was added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals list, a running list of prohibited individuals, businesses, and cryptocurrency addresses. OFAC is a watchdog organization dedicated to avoiding sanctions violations. All U.S. individuals and organizations are barred from engaging with the crypto mixing service platform or other Ethereum wallet addresses. Those who do so risk facing legal repercussions. Tornado Cash Created to Hide Source of Payments The Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker organization – linked to the $625 million March hack of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network, reportedly used Tornado Cash as a critical tool. Blockchain investigation revealed that Tornado Cash, created to hide the source of payments, was the conduit via which tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Ronin passed. As stated by the Treasury Department, OFAC previously sanctioned a similar mixing business, Blender.io, and around $20.5 million in cryptocurrency taken from Ronin. On-chain data studies reveal that the Ronin hackers continued to use the currency mixer firm to launder Ronin proceeds even after OFAC sanctioned an Ethereum address linked to the Lazarus Group that it claimed was connected to the breach. According t...