Examining Government Actions and Legal Implications of Tornado Cash Sanctions

This chapter delves into the government's recent actions surrounding Tornado Cash, questioning their constitutional validity and potential overreach. It also examines legal implications for affected individuals and the broader impact on cryptocurrency legislation.

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Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, talks about Tornado Cash, why it was sanctioned, and what this means for privacy in crypto.

Show highlights:

what Blender.io is and how it relates to Tornado Cash
how hackers have used Tornado Cash to launder money
whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control made a mistake, according to Jerry
how Americans were affected by the sanctions
why Jerry believes OFAC should have done an analysis to estimate how many people would be impacted by its decision
whether the sanctions should have been aimed at North Koren wallets and not the protocol
whether the sanctions are unconstitutional and whether Coin Center will litigate this
how Jerry believes Circle freezing USDC complicated everything
what the famous people who received 0.1 ETH from random accounts via Tornado Cash should do
what would happen if someone forked the Tornado Cash code and deployed a copycat smart contract to a new address
whether the sanctions signal the beginning of a privacy war on crypto
how regulators are applying the same traditional rules with crypto as they use with centralized entities