tornadocash

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) has reportedly come under scrutiny from the administration of President Donald Trump after allegedly selling Bitcoin seized from the developers of Samourai Wallet, with the total value estimated at approximately $6.3 million.
The move is controversial because it appears to conflict with an active presidential executive order stating that Bitcoin acquired through criminal or civil asset forfeiture should not be sold, but instead transferred into the United States Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Were Government Bitcoins Actually Sold?
According to an asset liquidation agreement obtained by Bitcoin Magazine, Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill agreed to transfer 57.55353033 BTC to the USMS as part of a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Blockchain data indicates that on November 3, 2025, these Bitcoins were transferred from a private wallet to a Coinbase Prime address—commonly used for institutional custody and asset sales. That address currently shows a zero balance, fueling speculation that the Bitcoin was subsequently liquidated.
If confirmed, such a sale would directly contradict Executive Order 14233, which explicitly classifies confiscated digital assets as “Government BTC” and states that federal agencies may not sell or otherwise dispose of them. The order allows for limited exceptions, but none are known to apply to the Rodriguez and Hill case.

Federal Law Does Not Require Bitcoin to Be Sold
Legal experts have emphasized that existing U.S. forfeiture laws do not require seized Bitcoin to be converted into cash. While 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(1) mandates forfeiture of property connected to operating an unlicensed money transmission business, it does not specify liquidation.
Other statutes governing forfeiture proceeds merely determine where funds are deposited and how they may be used, not that digital assets must be sold upon seizure.

Did the Southern District of New York Ignore DOJ Guidance?
Additional controversy surrounds the actions of the Southern District of New York. Despite updated guidance from the Department of Justice, prosecutors continued pursuing the Samourai Wallet case throughout 2025.
On April 7, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memo titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution,” which instructs federal prosecutors not to target crypto exchanges, mixers, tumblers, or offline wallets for the actions of their users.
Nevertheless, SDNY prosecutors moved forward with the Samourai Wallet case and continued pursuing charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. During discovery, defense attorneys reportedly learned—via a Brady request—that two senior officials at Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had “strongly suggested” that Samourai Wallet did not function as a money transmitter.

Why Did the Defendants Accept a Plea Deal?
Federal court statistics show that over 90% of criminal defendants are ultimately convicted, while acquittal rates have fallen as low as 0.4% in some years. The Southern District of New York is widely regarded as having an even higher-than-average conviction rate.
Rodriguez reportedly told journalists that he was well aware of these odds, as well as the reputation of Judge Denise Cote—who presided over his case—for imposing harsh sentences. These factors, he said, heavily influenced his decision to plead guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Crypto Industry Questions Trump’s “End of the War on Crypto”
The case has reignited debate within the crypto industry, particularly among leaders who supported Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign. Many are now questioning whether the administration’s promise to end the so-called “war on crypto” is being meaningfully implemented—or whether some federal agencies continue to act under a more aggressive, pre-reform enforcement approach.

#TRUMP , #bitcoin , #CryptoRegulation , #CryptoCommunity , #TornadoCash

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📅 December 30 | Ethereum Ecosystem
When an attacker manages to drain millions of dollars from a protocol and, hours later, begins to fragment the funds. The recent attack against Unleash Protocol not only exposed critical weaknesses in its governance system, but quickly escalated to a darker phase of the crypto hack cycle: on-chain asset laundering.

📖According to on-chain data and reports from multiple security firms, the attacker responsible for the exploit in Unleash Protocol began laundering approximately 1,337 ETH, equivalent to nearly $4 million, using the Tornado Cash mixer. This occurred shortly after the protocol itself publicly confirmed a security breach that resulted in losses of approximately $3.9 million.
Unleash Protocol reported that the attack originated from a compromise in its multisignature system, allowing an external address to gain administrative control over the protocol's governance.
From there, the attacker executed an unauthorized contract update, enabling withdrawals of funds that were neither approved by the team nor followed the intended operational processes. Simply put, the control architecture was bypassed from within.
Preliminary investigation suggests that access may have been achieved through social engineering, phishing, or other forms of credential compromise, a dynamic that is becoming increasingly common in 2025, where attacks no longer rely exclusively on code flaws. Once control was obtained, the attacker acted with surgical speed.
The affected assets included WIP, USDC, WETH, stIP and vIP, much of which was bridged to Ethereum before being sent to Tornado Cash. Firms like PeckShield detected that the funds were moved in repeated 100 ETH chunks, a classic technique to make it harder to track and dilute the on-chain footprint.
For its part, CertiK indicated that the initial withdrawals came from an external account created using SafeProxyFactory, a legitimate tool that, in this case, would have been used for malicious purposes.
Unleash Protocol, the impact of the incident is limited exclusively to its own contracts and administrative controls, ensuring that Story Protocol, the underlying infrastructure, shows no signs of compromise in validators, base contracts or network. Even so, the reputational damage has already been done.

Topic Opinion:
Code can be audited, but humans remain the weakest link. Compromised multisigs, poorly managed permissions, and vulnerable administrative processes have become the new favorite attack surface.
💬 Should protocols limit administrative powers even in multisigs?

Leave your comment...
#Ethereum #cryptohacks #TornadoCash #ETH #CryptoNews $ETH

加密货币安全领域正面临严峻挑战：美国联邦调查局（FBI）正式发布通缉令，追捕四名朝鲜公民。他们实施的犯罪手法更像是一部间谍惊悚片，而非简单的远程工作诈骗。
💰 涉案金额与悬赏： 黑客们利用伪造身份和“笔记本农场”技术，成功窃取了超过 90 万美元的加密货币。美国国务院现提供高达 500 万美元的奖金，奖励有助于破坏其金融网络的信息。
作案手法揭秘：
2022 年，该团伙冒充远程软件工程师，在美国和塞尔维亚的 IT 公司任职。为了规避安全系统，他们采用了以下手段:
身份盗用： 使用真实美国公民的身份信息通过 KYC 和背景调查。“笔记本农场”： 在美国租赁公寓，作为接收公司发放的工作设备的物理位置。同谋者负责连接网络，使朝鲜境内的黑客能够通过 VPN/VPS 远程控制设备，制造本地工作的假象。AI 深度伪造： 在视频面试期间，利用人工智能技术实时替换面孔和声音。
通过 Tornado Cash 洗钱 🌪️
在获取公司内部系统和企业数字钱包的访问权限后，犯罪分子提取了资金，并试图使用 Tornado Cash 混币器隐藏资金流向。美国司法部在 2025 年早些时候已在 16 个州查获了 29 个此类“农场”，但主犯仍在逃。
⚠️ 为何这对企业和加密社区至关重要？
朝鲜向全球派遣了数千名高技能 IT 工作人员。他们的目标不仅是窃取薪水：
在区块链项目代码中植入后门。窃取知识产权和军事技术。收集敏感客户数据进行勒索。
给 HR 和项目创始人的一点建议： 严格审查远程员工。如果候选人拒绝面对面交流或视频通话有异常延迟，应将其视为危险信号。
你怎么看？ AI 驱动的欺诈会成为 2025 年 Web3 招聘的最大威胁吗？在评论区分享你的看法吧！👇
#FBI #网络安全 #加密犯罪 #TornadoCash

In a groundbreaking case shaking the DeFi world, a New York jury has convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm for running an unlicensed money transmission business.
❗ Cleared of sanctions evasion⏸ Jury hung on money laundering🔨 Still convicted — and that changes the game.
🧠 Why This Ruling Matters
💥 Dev Responsibility Is Real – Even without handling user funds, building privacy tools can now bring criminal charges.👁️‍🗨️ Privacy vs. Prosecution – Tornado Cash offered anonymity, but regulators saw a gateway for illicit finance.🧩 Law Catching Up to Code – DeFi is finally colliding with old laws. Clearer legal frameworks are more urgent than ever.
📌 What’s Next?
Sentencing is ahead, but the signal is loud:
Privacy tech is now a legal battlefield.
Expect devs to lean into ZK-based compliance, or risk the same fate.
This isn’t just about one developer —
⚖️ It’s about whether privacy still has a place in crypto’s future.

💬 Where do YOU stand in the battle between privacy and regulation?
#TornadoCash #RomanStorm #CryptoPrivacy #Notcoin👀🔥 #BuiltonSolayer
$BNB

Trong một bước ngoặt quan trọng, một tòa án liên bang tại Texas vừa ra phán quyết rằng Bộ Tài chính Hoa Kỳ đã vượt quá quyền hạn khi áp đặt lệnh trừng phạt lên Tornado Cash, một giao thức mã hóa phi tập trung. Đây là lần thứ hai Bộ Tài chính thất bại trong việc điều chỉnh các hợp đồng thông minh bất biến (immutable smart contracts).

Tòa Án Nói Gì?

Phán quyết khẳng định các hợp đồng thông minh bất biến của #TornadoCash không thể bị coi là “tài sản” theo Đạo luật Quyền Kinh tế Khẩn cấp Quốc tế (IEEPA). Theo tòa:

“Các hợp đồng thông minh bất biến không phải là tài sản vì chúng không thể bị sở hữu.”

Phán quyết này nhấn mạnh giới hạn trong khả năng của chính phủ Hoa Kỳ khi điều chỉnh các giao thức blockchain mã nguồn mở, vốn có thể truy cập tự do bởi bất kỳ ai có kết nối internet.

Tác Động Đến Tornado Cash

Ngay sau thông tin này, giá token gốc của Tornado Cash (#TORN ) tăng hơn 200%, vượt mốc 25 USD trước khi điều chỉnh về 19,78 USD, theo CoinGecko.

Tornado Cash, một coin mixer trên blockchain Ethereum, cho phép người dùng che giấu chi tiết giao dịch bằng cách trộn lẫn các khoản tiền. Mặc dù được thiết kế để bảo vệ quyền riêng tư, công cụ này cũng từng bị lợi dụng bởi các nhóm hacker, điển hình là Lazarus Group từ Triều Tiên, để rửa tiền.


Nguồn Gốc Lệnh Trừng Phạt

Vào tháng 8/2022, Văn phòng Kiểm soát Tài sản Nước ngoài (#OFAC ) thuộc Bộ Tài chính đã đưa Tornado Cash vào danh sách đen vì bị cáo buộc liên quan đến việc rửa 455 triệu USD tiền mã hóa bị đánh cắp. Các lệnh trừng phạt cấm công dân Hoa Kỳ tương tác với giao thức này.

Tuy nhiên, tòa án cho rằng các hợp đồng thông minh là tự trị và không thể thay đổi, nên không thể bị phân loại là tài sản để điều chỉnh theo luật hiện hành.

Vẫn Còn Những Thách Thức

Dù vậy, Tornado Cash chưa thoát khỏi mọi rắc rối pháp lý. Vào tháng 9/2024, một tòa án New York từ chối bác bỏ các cáo buộc rửa tiền đối với Roman Storm, đồng sáng lập Tornado Cash. Ngoài ra, nhà phát triển Alexey Pertsev vẫn đang bị giam giữ tại Hà Lan với cáo buộc rửa 1,2 tỷ USD thông qua giao thức này.


Ý Nghĩa Với Thị Trường Crypto

Phán quyết mới từ Texas không chỉ bảo vệ quyền phát triển phần mềm mã nguồn mở mà còn tạo ra tiền lệ quan trọng cho các giao thức blockchain phi tập trung. Đây là tín hiệu tích cực cho ngành crypto, khi những công cụ bảo vệ quyền riêng tư như Tornado Cash có thể tránh khỏi các quy định quá mức.

Tuy nhiên, những tranh cãi về việc sử dụng công cụ này vào mục đích xấu vẫn còn là một thách thức lớn trong tương lai.

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas lifted sanctions against Tornado Cash, a protocol for mixing cryptocurrencies that were imposed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This decision has become an important event for the crypto industry and raises many questions about the future of privacy technologies.
The history of sanctions
In August 2022, Tornado Cash was included in the OFAC sanctions list due to allegations of facilitating illegal transactions worth more than $455 million related to the North Korean Lazarus Group. These actions caused a wide response: developers, including Alexey Pertsev, were arrested, and the crypto community began to talk about where the line between innovation and compliance with the law lies.
Why is the decision important?
The court ruled that OFAC's actions may have exceeded their authority. The plaintiffs, consisting of Tornado Cash users, argued that immutable smart contracts are not "proprietary" in accordance with the law, and their blocking is contrary to the law.
In addition, they emphasized that blockchain is transparent by nature, and tools such as Tornado Cash perform legitimate functions to protect user privacy.
The Future of Privacy in Cryptocurrencies
This victory raises the question of how to regulate privacy-preserving technologies. Some, like Matthew Niemerg of Aleph Zero, believe that innovation and privacy must go hand in hand with meeting legal requirements. However, there are still many unresolved issues: for example, the responsibility of developers for using their technologies.
Alexey Pertsev is still in custody, despite the fact that Tornado Cash is a decentralized protocol that he did not directly manage. This case raises the question of how much personal responsibility can be applied to the creators of such technologies.
What does this mean for the cryptocurrency industry?
The court ruling could set a precedent that points the way to a more balanced regulation where innovation is protected and abuse is prevented. But while the industry is waiting for further development of the Pertsev case and clarification of legislation, the question remains open.:
How do you think it is possible to achieve a balance between privacy protection and security in the crypto industry?
#TornadoCash #cryptocurrency #crypto