Amidst the bear market and a plethora of bankruptcy filings, the name of crypto mixing service, Tornado Cash kept surfacing. The platform became a go-to spot for hackers. Since the Ethereum-based firm allowed users to hide the origin of transactions, a significant amount of illegal funds were being moved through it. The US decided to retaliate by imposing sanctions on the platform. Dutch authorities, however, took a step ahead and arrested a developer suspected of being involved in the crypto mixing service.
The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service [FIOD] rolled out a statement revealing the arrest of an unidentified 29-year-old man in Amsterdam.
In the statement, the FIOD claims that the developer was suspected of “concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering through the mixing of cryptocurrencies through the decentralized Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash.”
It should be noted that the arrest was carried out back on the 10th of August. Today, however, the suspect in the case was being presented before the examining judge.
Currently, the Public Prosecutorās Office for serious fraud, environmental crime, and asset confiscation were preceding the investigation.
Are Tornado Cash’s Halcyon days officially over?
Tornado Cash had been thriving throughout the bear market. Just when the platform thought that it couldn’t be shaken, the US government slapped it with OFAC sanctions. The Dutch authorities commenced their investigation back in June 2022. The Financial Advanced Cyber Team [FACT] of the FIOD has been overseeing the Tornado Cash case ever since.
The statement read,
“FACT suspects that through Tornado Cash has been used to conceal large-scale criminal money flows, including from (online) thefts of cryptocurrencies (so-called crypto hacks and scams). These included funds stolen through hacks by a group believed to be associated with North Korea.”
Furthermore, the latest news would bring respite to many. However, North Korean hackers are likely to have a tough time.