The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service allowing ethereum (ETH-USD) users to mask their transactions, over its alleged use in laundering virtual currency stolen by North Korean hackers, according to a release Monday. Since its inception in 2019, Tornado Cash has laundered over $7B worth of virtual currency, the department highlighted. That includes more than $455M stolen by the North Korea's Lazarus Group, which was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019. The platform was also used to launder nearly $100M derived from the June 24 theft of the Harmony Blockchain. As a result, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has prohibited all Americans from using Tornado Cash, adding that it's a "significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability" of the U.S. The Treasury described Tornado Cash as "a virtual currency mixer that launders the proceeds of cybercrimes, including those committed against victims in the United States,” said Brian E. Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. In an effort to boost its users' privacy, Tornado facilitates anonymous transactions by obfuscating their origin. It mixes funds from a variety of sources before transmitting them to their individual recipients, the Treasury explained. Tornado Cash did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Seeking Alpha....
