Tornado Cash Founders Charged and Arrested by US Government
The founders of Tornado Cash, Roman Storm and Roman Semenox, have been charged and arrested by the US government for laundering over $1 billion and violating sanctions.
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A federal judge ruled that Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, was properly designated by the U.S. Treasury Department, marking the second case where the existence of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) was used to justify regulatory enforcement action against a crypto entity.
The founders of Tornado Cash, a Russian cryptocurrency mixing service, have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charges stem from the platform's involvement in over $1 billion worth of alleged money laundering transactions, including funds stolen by a North Korean cybercrime organization.
Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have been charged with money laundering over $1 billion in criminal proceeds, while FTX-affiliated Farmington State Bank has been shut down for attempting to create a stablecoin without proper approval. Prime Trust has filed for bankruptcy after losing $6 million of customer money in Terra-Luna gambling, and Binance has lost its UK payment processor Checkout.com over money laundering concerns. Furthermore, Sam Bankman-Fried plans to blame FTX's lawyers for his decision-making in his legal defense. The SEC has sued Titan for promising unrealistic investment returns, Coinbase has suspended certain stablecoins for Canadian users, and the Centre consortium that issued the USDC stablecoin is being dissolved.
The cryptocurrency market remained relatively stable this week, with Bitcoin and Ethereum holding their value, but meme coin PEPE experienced a significant drop in price, and the PepeCoin team's transfer of a large amount of PEPE to exchanges caused panic selling. Additionally, notable news included Kenya's inquiry into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Worldcoin project, the arrest of Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm for money laundering-related crimes, and the approval of land and resource tokenization in the Central African Republic.
Tornado Cash co-founders face charges of money laundering and sanctions violations, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried struggles in prison, and the identity of a Bitcoin whale holding $3 billion is revealed.
One of the founders of crypto mixer Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, has been released on bail after being charged with money laundering $1 billion, and his case could have implications for all software developers.
The Tornado Cash indictments against the co-founders and developers behind the decentralized mixer have raised questions about how the federal government will regulate decentralized trading platforms, but the case may be more focused on allegations of money laundering for North Korea rather than a broader attack on privacy tools.
Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm pleaded "not guilty" to charges of money laundering and sanctions evasion, and will be released on a $2 million bond under house arrest.