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Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

> the biggest mixer of all: Monero

Tornado is a straight up money laundering (specifically, layering [1]) service. Monero can be that. But it's also other things, which makes it at the very least defensible in a way someone interacting with Tornado is not.

[1] https://www.stpaulschambers.com/stages-of-money-laundering-e...

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A weakness of Ethereum is that it's difficult to obscure how much money you have, but Tornado can untraceably separate your cold wallet from your hot wallet. That's a totally legitimate use. While it's used a lot for money laundering, TC is morally agnostic, just like real cash.

This is an important use case. I suppose according to these new rules, in the long run you'll be only allowed to use the government's mixer. Which would provide some anonymity at least until the logs are hacked or the service is privatized.

I don't think it's fair to say it's exclusively used for money laundering, it surely can be used to obscure the origin of funds but I think 'money laundering' label requires that the motive be financial profit. If you just want to preserve privacy while interacting with ethereum network without financial gain, tornado is a great tool to accomplish that.

No, we must ban things that serve multiple purposes if they also serve a use to criminals.

Ban cars because they can be used for robbery getaways

Not Teslas though, because they will snitch on you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32384827

I assume by my downvotes that the sarcasm was missed.

Funnily enough, Congress already passed a mandatory kill switch law for automobile manufacturers. Supposedly for stopping drunk drivers. You already know it'll be used for any purpose the police see fit. Once they have the ability, there's no reason not to.

Ban USD.

Tornado Cash is not a money laundering service. It is a financial privacy protocol that is used for many legitimate purposes.

Privacy is not a crime, and money laundering doesn't mean obtaining financial privacy.

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