A hacker recently moved $10 million worth of Ether to the controversial crypto-mixing platform Tornado Cash. This follows a phishing attack in September 2023 in which a significant amount of money was stolen from a crypto whale. The crook took advantage of token permissions to steal the funds.
Tornado Cash, the tool where the money was sent, has faced significant controversy since its creation in 2019, including sanctions by the US government over money laundering allegations. Despite declining trading volumes and increasing regulatory pressure, Tornado Cash continues to attract both positive and negative attention within the crypto space.
#CertiKInsight 🚨
We are seeing a deposit of 3700 ETH, which is worth over $10M, into Tornado Cash by EOA 0x8cFDAD729de89f09A188312839A0EC3b1522E107 on Ethereum.
The fund traces to a major phishing incident back in September 2023 where $24M (at the time) worth of assets were…
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) March 21, 2024
Sanctions and Tornado Cash
After the sanctions, Tornado Cash saw a significant drop in trading volume. These measures have not only affected the operation of the platform, but also sparked a broader discussion about privacy, the role of government sanctions and the future of financial privacy within the crypto sector. The development of new privacy tools follows in the footsteps of Tornado Cash, underscoring the continued demand for privacy in the financial world.
You could previously read on this website that Tornado Cash is often used for these types of things. For example, North Korea’s Lazarus Group used the tool to launder $12 million.
At the same time, wanting privacy is not in itself a crime. That is a right, at least in countries like the Netherlands. However, if you look further, you see that this right is in danger. One of the builders behind Tornado Cash is currently stuck in the Netherlands. The developer named Alexey Pertsev is accused by the Dutch authorities of laundering (or helping to launder) $1.2 billion (!) dollars.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.nl/nieuws/hacker-stuurt-10-miljoen-naar-tornado-cash
