There are other uses for an N95 mask than robbing a bank.
Similarly, there are other uses for anonymous money than laundering illegal money, for example, getting an abortion, buying a gift, having a vacation in Las Vegas as a Korean citizen (they get prosecuted for gambling overseas), anonymous donations, etc.
The technology to grow food also grows drugs; to teach technology is to teach all its applications, even if it goes unsaid. That doesn't mean we should forbid people learning to grow food in case they might grow drugs, or might launder money.
Money laundering: the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses.
Tornado Cash isn't for laundering money, it's for breaking the chain of public transactions on block explorers. It doesn't make withdrawn fees look "legitimate".
> can use Torando Cash to conceal the origins of my paycheck, for example to preserve my privacy when transacting with peers
Probably. After it’s been publicly outed as a known money laundering venue, however, you should switch to another service. It’s also reasonable for everyone who deals with you henceforth to subject you to additional scrutiny, to make sure you were not in face laundering. Because while the privacy vs. friction tradeoff may be acceptable to you, it’s not to everyone, and just as you have a right to privacy they have a right to not associating with you.
But there's no reason to do that unless you're trying to hide a crime.
I'm sympathetic to the free speech argument, but also, if I put up plans for the Kitty Murdulator 9000 whose principally designed to kill kitties, then yeah I'd call that bad. Like sure you could do something else with it I guess, maybe, but it's clearly designed for one thing, and one thing only.
Don't want your transactions to be public? Use a bank like a normal person.
That's great and all, but that doesn't change the responsibilities incumbent on a service that transfers value under the law. And that is to ensure their compliance with AML and KYC rules - and best effort verification that sanctioned individuals aren't using it. None of which this particular service did. RIP.
I think something like 1/4 of all the transactions on Tornado were laundering lol. Imagine any other business that operated like that. For instance, a bank where 1/4 of tellers are stealing the deposits of customers. At some point, the banking that happens is incidental to the actual business.
So like, if you have a legitimate use for the service, and you know that by participating you're facilitating money laundering, you're complicit IMO. And if you don't want to be complicit, go find a different service.
I deposit 100 ETH to tornado, wait a while, and withdraw in 10 ETH increments. There is still no explanation for the origin of the funds. Money laundering is made up of placement, layering, and integration. Tornado did only one of these (kinda).
I'd really love to hear why you and other commenters are so supportive of transaction tracking.
Cash was and is still not very trackable; it's so untrackable that the IRS has to declare what events trigger tracking. Something like Tornado Cash just mixes what it's comparable to a credit card purchase down to being as trackable as cash. I don't see a problem with that.
Whether or not criminals use it is really not of concern to me. The FBI, CIA, and NSA can do their jobs just fine without transaction tracing. The fact that their jobs remain hard are also an indicator of freedom. Their jobs have already gotten quite a bit easier with the birth and success of the digital world.
Again, Tornado Cash is not money laundering. It only provides transaction privacy. Here is the difference:
The result of money laundering is clean money: you can deposit it into your bank, pay taxes on it, and buy a Ferrari. That only happens if you can give the IRS a plausible explanation for how you obtained the funds legally.
Tornado Cash does not give you this plausible explanation. After using it, you still will not have clean money with an IRS-approved explanation of income. All you gain is privacy from chain analysis.
You could launder money through a restaurant or minting a NFT, since those are otherwise legal activities that could plausibly explain ending the day with more money than you started with. But Tornado Cash does not fit that description.
Not when your use of the service obfuscates criminal flows and the service intentionally avoids meeting its AML/KYC obligations and doing even the tiniest iota to stop criminal use. That's when it switches from a privacy venue to a money-laundering venue and the fact you're there and using it in a legal way is incidental.
>why you and other commenters are so supportive of transaction tracking
because most people aren't a fan of tax evasion, black markets or crime. The same does in fact apply to cash which is why many jurisdictions heavily restrict large cash transactions and are in the process of reducing the usage of cash or circulation of large bills.
I think the NSA, FBI and CIA being able to do their job is a good thing because I'm not too keen on making the life of money launderers any easier.
No, money laundering obfuscates money sources because the money is illicitly gained or because the money holder doesn't want to pay taxes. It is neither money laundering or a crime to obfuscate the legitimate source of your money, because it is nobody's business but yours.
Similarly, there are other uses for anonymous money than laundering illegal money, for example, getting an abortion, buying a gift, having a vacation in Las Vegas as a Korean citizen (they get prosecuted for gambling overseas), anonymous donations, etc.
The technology to grow food also grows drugs; to teach technology is to teach all its applications, even if it goes unsaid. That doesn't mean we should forbid people learning to grow food in case they might grow drugs, or might launder money.