The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) of Netherlands that overseas financial crimes has arrested a 29-year-old developer in Amsterdam on Wednesday over alleged involvement in the development of crypto mixer Tornando Cash.
The mixer was blacklisted by the US Department of Treasury last week for enabling mass hacking operations, with links to North-Korean state-sponsored cybercrime gangs, by providing money laundering services.
“He is suspected of involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering through the mixing of cryptocurrencies through the decentralised Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash. Multiple arrests are not ruled out,”
read a statement released by FIOD.
Following the crackdown, the Tornado Cash DAO’s discord channel and forum seem to have gone offline. The discord channel returns an invalid invite, while the forum website – used to discuss and govern the DAO – displays an error message when accessed through a web browser.
On 9th August, the DAO managed to approve a multi-sig proposal for its $22 million treasury. The proposal would make it easier for transactions to get approved. “If ever something happens to 2 signers, we could still be able to manage the community fund,” read the proposal.
Meanwhile, the community has largely expressed its displeasure over the recent developments. Most believe writing an open-source code can’t be a legitimate reason for an arrest.
“It is not any specific bad actor who is being sanctioned, but instead it is all Americans who may wish to use this automated tool in order to protect their own privacy,”
wrote Jerry Brito, the Executive Director of Coin Center – a non-profit focused on policy issues around cryptocurrencies.
Tornado Cash (TORN), the native currency of Tornado Cash DAO, has fallen over 50% since the ban, according to data from Coinmarketcap.
