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How the US Government Spooked Crypto With Their Attack on Tornado Cash
Last week the US government implemented sanctions against the most popular decentralized mixing crypto platform, Tornado Cash. So naturally, reactions are mixed, and, as usual, the mainstream financial media focuses on half the story.
I wonder what would happen if every time a US gun owner shot and killed somebody, the person or entity who sold the weapon got charged with a crime? It’s argued that, in a murder case, the gun itself is a neutral item that can be used for the power of good or bad. So, I was a bit perplexed when Dutch authorities arrested 29-year-old alleged Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev on charges that he is “suspected of involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering.” The arrest comes on the news that the United States would sanction the Tornado Cash platform.
The crypto asset class is at a crossroads. The failure of Terra/Luna, the collapse of Three Arrows Capital, and the corporate rugpull by Celsius, Voyager, and multiple other centralized lenders illustrate regulation will be necessary if crypto wants to reach mainstream capability. At the same time, large governments seem so far…
