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Well it probably was, among other things. But we're censoring a network here, not just a tool. Nobody is making the cryptography behind Tornado illegal.

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The open source software and cryptographic protocol is implicitly targeted with this order. You can see it in how private companies are now handling the Tornado Cash code and contributor accounts. If you create a similar privacy tool with zk-SNARKs do you really think it won’t also become a target for sanctions in time?

This is known as “chilling effect” in a legal context.

To expand on this, the chilling effect here is that even if the code behind tornado cash isn't explicitly illegal, using it on a blockchain in practice is incredibly risky.

People who might otherwise want to use this for financial privacy would be wary, since if they deposit funds to the contract, they don't have any way to know if they'll be able to use the unlinked funds later if withdrawn.

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