[JohnHaugeland]

You seem to believe that if a tool is illegal, as long as it's open source and the people making it don't have a criminal background, and as long as you call it something like "privacy software," somehow it's suddenly not illegal

But this is a tool whose specific purpose it is to make it difficult to track illegal transactions. Of course this is happening.

Programmers get way too wrapped up in "but I called it open source! I called it privacy software!"

What you label it has no actual power here. It was used in illegal behavior and that appears to be its goal.

Of course it's going away.

[whatisweb3]

Matrix protocol’s sole purpose is to obscure usernames and messages and enable privacy. Tornado Cash’s sole purpose is to obscure blockchain addresses and enable privacy. Privacy is not a crime. Using Matrix to hire a hit-man would be a crime, but we don’t sanction the Matrix protocol or it’s developers just because it can be used by criminals to obscure their crimes.

[AlexandrB]

What's the practical difference between the kind of privacy Tornado Cash provides and the kind of privacy offered by a local money laundering operation? If there is none, why should the latter be illegal while the former remains legal?

[whatisweb3]

One exists to facilitate privacy, the other exists to facilitate money laundering.

Compare with E2EE Matrix protocol: it does not exist to facilitate criminal communication, but it does facilitate criminal communication.

TC is also different because it is an open source protocol, not a legal entity or group. You deposit funds into the protocol, and anybody in the network can help you withdraw them by relaying your transaction. It is a set of rules that any group of people can follow to allow for private transactions, and the same protocol can run on many blockchains.

[jobs_throwaway]

Writing is used by criminals. Should writing be made illegal?

[balfirevic]

> But this is a tool whose specific purpose it is to make it difficult to track illegal transactions.

What's the difference between that and a tool whose specific purpose is to make it difficult to track transactions in general?

[JohnHaugeland]

I don't see this as a meaningful split.

I would react the same way to someone trying to get me to define the difference between an assault rifle and a hunting rifle.

In the context of an AR-47, it's an irrelevant, time wasting question.

[notch656a]

>difference between an assault rifle and a hunting rifle.

>In the context of an AR-47

LMAO, please tell me this is sarcasm. This is the actual fudd meme of someone mixing up AK-47 and AR.

[aaaaaaaaata]

Same as Bitcoin is going away?

Please.

[JohnHaugeland]

I didn't say anything of the sort