Tornado Cash Developer Found Guilty of Laundering $1.2B of Crypto

Key quote:<p>&gt; While Pertsev added functionality to the web interface that allowed legitimate users to separate their funds from those arriving from known criminal addresses, they characterized the effort as “too little and too late.”<p>I admit it sounds pretty damning to have a UI affordance for “keep my funds separate from the known criminals this service knowingly serves”.<p>I have little sympathy for those who intentionally increase crime as some kind of political statement, but it seems like maintaining plausible deniability would be very important to those who do so.

Previous discussion when he was arrested: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=32436413">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=32436413</a>

I don&#x27;t agree with the ruling, but I wonder how many people out there are living the good life because of dodgy funds they laundered through Tornado Cash. Flying in private jets, driving lambos, drinking the finest whisky. While many of those that do honest work like teaching the next generation live in poverty.

This story is framed oddly. Imagine if you blamed, say, cash, for being used by North Korea. Also compare this treatment to the employees at Wells Fargo&#x2F;Wachovia who laundered billions for Mexican drug cartels,<p>&gt;The settlement reached between Wachovia and U.S. authorities, known as a &quot;deferred prosecution,&quot; raises questions. It&#x27;s a probationary agreement, effectively allowing the bank to evade prosecution if it abides by the law for a year. While the fine imposed was substantial, it amounted to less than 2% of Wachovia&#x27;s 2009 profit.

not sure i agree with this.<p>&gt; But Dutch prosecutors say the case was simpler than all that. It wasn’t about the right to privacy, or the liability of open source developers, they claim, but the choices of an individual. “[Pertsev] made choices writing the code, deploying the code, adding features to the ecosystem. Choice after choice, all the while he knew that criminal money was entering his system,” M. Boerlage, the lead prosecutor on the case, told WIRED ahead of the verdict. “So it’s not about code. It’s about human behavior.”<p>How is it different than, say, gun or ammo manufacturers? I suppose the quote here is highly simplified and almost all nuance removed, but still. How is this different than metasploit?

Crypto, used for illegal activity?<p>I am shocked, <i>shocked</i>!<p>Well, not that shocked.