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The US based developer of Tornado cash (Roman Storm) is still awaiting trial under money laundering charges, and the Dutch developer (Alexey Pertsev) has alrea

The US based developer of Tornado cash (Roman Storm) is still awaiting trial under money laundering charges, and the Dutch developer (Alexey Pertsev) has already been convicted and sentenced to 5 years for money laundering. The Russian developer is on the US sanction list but hasn't been charged. I find this a bit shocking, as I don't think there is a suggestion they actually laundered any of their own money through Tornado Cash. (Although there is some possibility that they profited indirectly from others laundering money this doesn't seem to be the basis of the charges). I can see an argument that Tornado cash facilitates money laundering but only as a biproduct of otherwise reasonable privacy features. If the privacy allows North Korea to launder stolen money then I can easily see why western governments would not like Tornado Cash. But are the developers really at fault? I find the precedent this sets really scary. Would the developers of TOR have been treated the same if they weren't researchers working for the US government?

watwut 2y ago
You don't need to launder own money to be found guilty of money laundering. Most people engaged (caught) in it take percentage or fees from laundering others mafia money.
- fancyfredbot 2y ago
  Yes fair point, but these individuals weren't personally involved in laundering others dirty money either. North Korea used the author's algorithm/protocol but the authors weren't personally involved. The fee aspect is slightly unclear. I think the authors may have benefitted but I think it was indirectly rather than through a fee. I'm not sure exactly how that worked. It might be because they held a lot of Tornado cash and it appreciated in value.
  - namaria 2y ago
    You can read the indictment here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/1311391/dl?inline https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/1311391/dl?inline

watwut 2y ago

You don't need to launder own money to be found guilty of money laundering. Most people engaged (caught) in it take percentage or fees from laundering others mafia money.

fancyfredbot 2y ago
Yes fair point, but these individuals weren't personally involved in laundering others dirty money either. North Korea used the author's algorithm/protocol but the authors weren't personally involved. The fee aspect is slightly unclear. I think the authors may have benefitted but I think it was indirectly rather than through a fee. I'm not sure exactly how that worked. It might be because they held a lot of Tornado cash and it appreciated in value.
- namaria 2y ago
  You can read the indictment here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/1311391/dl?inline https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/1311391/dl?inline