Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ssklash 1376 days ago
I think the point of this case is far less about privacy and crypto, but the fact that the US government sanctioned an entire piece of software. People use the software for privacy, and the government sanctioned it because it was being used for illegal things, but the fact that they can unilaterally sanction a piece of software is scary. Imagine if they sanctioned Tor Browser or Signal, both of which are used for privacy and can be used for illegal activity.
2 comments
Loic 1376 days ago
The government has to balance stuff.

Cash can and is used to buy/sell on the black market and also to buy/sell privately without leaving traces. But it is very difficult to move large amounts of money with cash. It means, it provides privacy with an acceptable level of freedom to do illegal stuff.

Privacy in crypto enables the same but it also allows bad actors to move extreme large amounts of money. The risks for the government are here so big, they cannot accept it.

link
TimeBearingDown 1376 days ago
I largely agree - to this comment, not your parent post - but the technology is here. Governments couldn’t accept citizens with easy access to strong encryption either, but they have had to make do ever since. Not all of the code can be sanctioned. The Monero project continues to mature, can be used as a “mixer” for other coins, and can be bought or sold using networks like Bisq.
link
nl 1376 days ago
> the fact that the US government sanctioned an entire piece of software.

Well they sanctioned the use of that software.

I don't really see why this is seen as such a problem. Banks that are used primarily for criminal activity get sanctioned frequently.

It's pretty clear judging by the amount of money going though Tornado cash and the amount that was from publicly known hacks known to be flowing through it that the majority of the money was from illegal activity.

> Imagine if they sanctioned Tor Browser or Signal, both of which are used for privacy and can be used for illegal activity.

But they didn't.

But forums that are focused on illegal activities get shutdown all the time.

link