Arbitrum DAO Withdraws Proposal for Legal Defense Funding of Tornado Cash's Developers
Summary:
A legal defense funding proposal for Tornado Cash's developers has been withdrawn by the Arbitrum DAO. The move, initiated by anonymous delegate DK, suggested using $1.3 million in ARB tokens to aid Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, creators of the cryptocurrency blender Tornado Cash. They are accused of laundering over $1 billion in illicit funds. The proposal was removed at the author's behest, though the reasons remain undisclosed.
A proposal to financially assist the legal defense of Tornado Cash's developers has been withdrawn by the Arbitrum DAO. The proposition suggested employing nearly $1.3 million of ARB tokens from the communal wallet to aid Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, creators of the cryptocurrency blender Tornado Cash. Moreover, the allocated funds might have also been directed towards PR campaigns and support for privacy-focused technology.
This move was initiated by the unrecognized delegate DK, who recommended a strong legal defense for the developers on March 7. However, at the owner's request, the proposal has since been removed, as confirmed by an Arbitrum spokesperson. There has been no disclosure of the reasons behind this change, and efforts to connect with DK have been unsuccessful so far.
Tornado Cash and its creators are accused of washing more than $1 billion of illegal funds, including assets associated with the cybercriminal group Lazarus Group. They are charged with money laundering, violating sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transferring company in the United States. The proposal was visible online on March 8.
Pertsev was apprehended in the Netherlands in August 2022, and Storm was detained by the FBI in August 2023. Co-founder Roman Semenov is yet to be caught.
Supporters of Tornado Cash argue that it simply offers software for decentralized transactions and does not directly participate in money transfer activities. The crackdown on the platform is viewed by some as an intimidation tactic against developers of privacy-focused apps. The developers have also encountered additional financial challenges. For instance, GoFundMe scrapped a appeal for collecting Storm and Pertsev's legal fees on February 16, quoting a violation of terms of service that possibly put GoFundMe and its users at risk.
Headline: Tornado Cash 2.0: The ongoing attempt to create secure and legal cryptocurrency tumblers.
Published At
3/11/2024 12:32:56 AM
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