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I think the crypto framing obscures the story here. If the government issued sanctions against a traditional financial organization engaged in money laundering,

I think the crypto framing obscures the story here. If the government issued sanctions against a traditional financial organization engaged in money laundering, and then Goldman Sachs bankrolled a lawsuit arguing that the organization is allowed to engage in money laundering due to some quirk of the organizational structure, everyone would understand what's going on and nobody outside of the finance industry would be on the pro-lawsuit side.

dannyw 4y ago
The sanctioned entity here is a piece of code that uses zk-SNARK cryptography, in a permissionless and immutable way. There are no admin keys, there is no ownership, it is code. It's not an organization. This is more like the FBI banning GPG because terrorists use it. FTA: > They contend that the Treasury Department lacks the authority to restrict access to a software program. This is the point. No one would have batted an eye if OFAC sanctioned addresses that used TC to launder money. Nobody would have batted an eye if the FBI prosecuted criminals for using GPG to plot a crime. But what happened here is akin to the FBI, using powers that it hasn't been granted in law, to ban GPG.
- x86x87 4y ago
  Hahaha... you cannot make this thing up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_i...
- intrasight 4y ago
  Code has been, can be, and will be sanctioned. Will they be successful is a different question. The SEC is well-funded, has a strongly supported mandate, and has a long arm. They are playing a long war of attrition.
  - dannyw 4y ago
    the SEC isnt involved here .
    - intrasight 4y ago
      Of course they are ;)
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  Tornado Cash is obviously an organization. This was clear from their website before it was taken down, and you can still see from their Medium blog history (https://tornado-cash.medium.com/ https://tornado-cash.medium.com/) that they consider themselves to be a "we" who can take reports, make governance proposals, etc. The people who've told you otherwise are playing shell games (and sometimes outright lying) to advance their financial interests.
- verdverm 4y ago
  They sanctioned wallet addresses which are not the same as the code

dannyw 4y ago

The sanctioned entity here is a piece of code that uses zk-SNARK cryptography, in a permissionless and immutable way. There are no admin keys, there is no ownership, it is code. It's not an organization. This is more like the FBI banning GPG because terrorists use it. FTA: > They contend that the Treasury Department lacks the authority to restrict access to a software program. This is the point. No one would have batted an eye if OFAC sanctioned addresses that used TC to launder money. Nobody would have batted an eye if the FBI prosecuted criminals for using GPG to plot a crime. But what happened here is akin to the FBI, using powers that it hasn't been granted in law, to ban GPG.

x86x87 4y ago
Hahaha... you cannot make this thing up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_i...
intrasight 4y ago
Code has been, can be, and will be sanctioned. Will they be successful is a different question. The SEC is well-funded, has a strongly supported mandate, and has a long arm. They are playing a long war of attrition.
- dannyw 4y ago
  the SEC isnt involved here .
  - intrasight 4y ago
    Of course they are ;)
SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
Tornado Cash is obviously an organization. This was clear from their website before it was taken down, and you can still see from their Medium blog history (https://tornado-cash.medium.com/ https://tornado-cash.medium.com/) that they consider themselves to be a "we" who can take reports, make governance proposals, etc. The people who've told you otherwise are playing shell games (and sometimes outright lying) to advance their financial interests.
verdverm 4y ago
They sanctioned wallet addresses which are not the same as the code