- The United States has imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash.
- In this context, an arrest took place in the Netherlands.
- Now the crypto community is hitting back, sending ether with Tornado Cash to prominent wallets.
The case of Tornado Cash is heating up tempers. The US has outlawed the Ethereum tumbler via OFAC, which is subordinate to the US Treasury. Anyone who interacts with Tornado Cash now risks significant restrictions. US citizens and companies also face severe penalties, they are forbidden to call the smart contract.
Tornado Cash primarily makes it possible to conceal transactions with Ethereum and to ensure confidentiality between the parties. Since the mixer is based on smart contracts, it cannot be switched off easily. Instead, the efforts were directed against Tornado Cash’s website and social media channels. In the Netherlands, one of the developers was even arrested on Wednesday. It is unclear what the suspect actually committed. The only obvious thing is that he co-programmed Tornado Cash.
Critics do not see it as a crime, since the technology is neutral and a developer cannot influence whether it is used for criminal machinations. The US, of course, sees it differently. For them, any support from hackers is a crime. They suspect that some hacker groups are working for North Korea and are co-financing armament programs with their activities.
Dusting attack on prominent wallets
Since the mixer is still accessible, despite the efforts of various authorities, a small movement has decided on a particularly creative protest action. The addresses of Tornado Cash are on a black list. Large DeFi protocols such as Aave use the blacklist to block addresses that have interacted with the mixer.
Therefore, it is possible to disable Ethereum addresses in a targeted manner. It only takes 0.1 ETH, which is sent to the victim via Tornado Cash. After that, the destination address is initially burned and can no longer control various decentralized financial applications.
So far, it is unclear how many people and companies have been affected by the dusting attack. So far, only Justin Sun has commented publicly because he could no longer access Aave. A short time later, however, the case seemed to have been solved again. However, it is questionable whether less prominent Ethereum users have a similarly good wire and will be unlocked. This means that the door is practically open to trolls and there is a half-joking discussion on Twitter about who could be targeted next and what the consequences would be.
In addition to Sun, PUMA, Beeple, Steve Aoki and influencer Logan Paul were also targeted. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is also said to have caught it.
