The Netherlands’ Financial Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) recently arrested a man in Amsterdam. The arrest involved a person mixing cryptocurrencies using Tornado Cash. This person is now accused of participating in concealing illegal cash transactions and facilitating money laundering. According to the information obtained, the arrested name was the founder of the crypto money project. After the news broke, the price of the altcoin project officially collapsed.
Tornado Cash founder arrested
FIOD, one of the Dutch regulatory agencies, launched a criminal investigation against Tornado Cash in June. The agency alleges that the platform’s cryptocurrency is causing digital asset theft. He also claims to have evidence of it being used to hide large illegal cash transactions. Most of the black money came into the Tornado Cash network through wallet hacking. Additionally, FIOD estimates that these funds were transferred from North Korea. The regulator says Tornado Cash has generated at least $7 billion in revenue since its inception in 2019. According to the investigation, the altcoin supported the crime by committing at least a billion dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency. On Monday, August 8, the US government added Tornado Cash to America’s OFAC sanctions list.
Sharp collapse in altcoin price
The arrest of the Tornado Cash founder has shocked the cryptocurrency market. Many investors have withdrawn their funds from Tornado’s native cryptocurrency, TORN. On top of that, the price went downhill and officially collapsed in just hours. At the time of writing, the TORN price has lost 21% in the last 24 hours. The altcoin, which started the day with a unit price of $ 17, is currently trading at $ 13.63. In addition to the price, the trading volume also suffered a decline. Tornado Cash’s trading volume is down 9.22% on the 24-hour chart. Following the recent allegations, Circle announced that it was freezing altcoin-related funds. It remains unclear where TORN’s depreciation will stop. However, a 21% drop in just a few hours means that the price could drop further in the coming hours.
What is Tornado Cash (TORN)?
cryptocoin.com As we have previously reported, Tornado Cash is a decentralized, privacy-focused cryptocurrency. It breaks the on-chain link between the recipient and destination addresses. Thus, it allows users to perform transactions in a confidential and anonymous manner. However, the altcoin is built on Ethereum and uses ERC-20 smart contracts. Privacy coins like TORN are frequently criticized by countries for money laundering. For example, the popular privacy altcoin Monero is on the verge of being banned by many countries. Now, due to the recent news about Tornado Cash, it is possible that the pressure on privacy coins will increase even more.
