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...Because money laundering is illegal. No one's going to advertise openly to the public "Assassination services here! Just call 1-800-KIL-THEM!" And no one's

...Because money laundering is illegal. No one's going to advertise openly to the public "Assassination services here! Just call 1-800-KIL-THEM!" And no one's going to put in public documents "we set up this company in order to facilitate money laundering."

capableweb 4y ago
Alright, so there is no proof that Tornado Cash was setup to facilitate money laundering, yet so many here on HN keeps saying "was designed to launder money". What does "designed to X" mean if not that the tool itself was intentionally, purposefully and explicitly made to do X? And if that's true, why isn't there any public evidence of that being true?
- 8note 4y ago
  They did not include an automated KYC process for when the transactions are larger than 10k USD. Therefore, they intended it to be used to hide transactions from the US government. They could have also limited the service to not run on amounts larger than 10k?
- neuronexmachina 4y ago
  I think the confusion is one of definitions. Basically, the whole point of cryptocurrency tumblers like TC is to obscure the original source of funds. That can be used for both legal and illegal funding sources. I think some folks in this thread are using the term "money laundering" to refer to both legal and illegal fund-source-obscuring, while others are using it to refer purely to illicit sources.
JustLurking2022 4y ago
I think danaris's point stands - if you design an iron maiden style murder chamber but simply alter the name to "one time use changing room", you're not fooling anyone, the purpose is still clear, and illegal.
- dlubarov 4y ago
  Its purpose is clear because there is no plausible alternative reason for designing a murder chamber. Are you suggesting that there is no plausible reason to want financial privacy, outside money laundering?
  - devoutsalsa 4y ago
    If I were a Russian (I'm not), I wouldn't want the Russian government finding out that I donated crypto to Ukraine defense efforts.

capableweb 4y ago

Alright, so there is no proof that Tornado Cash was setup to facilitate money laundering, yet so many here on HN keeps saying "was designed to launder money". What does "designed to X" mean if not that the tool itself was intentionally, purposefully and explicitly made to do X? And if that's true, why isn't there any public evidence of that being true?

8note 4y ago
They did not include an automated KYC process for when the transactions are larger than 10k USD. Therefore, they intended it to be used to hide transactions from the US government. They could have also limited the service to not run on amounts larger than 10k?
neuronexmachina 4y ago
I think the confusion is one of definitions. Basically, the whole point of cryptocurrency tumblers like TC is to obscure the original source of funds. That can be used for both legal and illegal funding sources. I think some folks in this thread are using the term "money laundering" to refer to both legal and illegal fund-source-obscuring, while others are using it to refer purely to illicit sources.

JustLurking2022 4y ago

I think danaris's point stands - if you design an iron maiden style murder chamber but simply alter the name to "one time use changing room", you're not fooling anyone, the purpose is still clear, and illegal.

dlubarov 4y ago
Its purpose is clear because there is no plausible alternative reason for designing a murder chamber. Are you suggesting that there is no plausible reason to want financial privacy, outside money laundering?
- devoutsalsa 4y ago
  If I were a Russian (I'm not), I wouldn't want the Russian government finding out that I donated crypto to Ukraine defense efforts.