Last week, cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash was blacklisted in the United States, accused of enabling the laundering of cryptocurrency funds.
New twist in the Tornado Cash case. Dutch police said on Friday they arrested an alleged developer of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service sanctioned by Washington for laundering stolen funds including from North Korean hackers.
The 29-year-old was arrested in Amsterdam on Wednesday and is expected to appear before an investigating judge on Friday, the Dutch Financial and Tax Crime Investigation Service (FIOD) said.
“We suspect a developer (…) of Tornado Cash of being involved in the concealment and laundering of large-scale criminal money flows by mixing cryptocurrencies,” FIOD said on Twitter. “Other arrests are not excluded”.
$1 Billion in Criminally Sourced Cryptocurrencies
Dutch police said they have been investigating since June 2022 Tornado Cash, suspected of laundering at least $1 billion worth of criminal cryptocurrencies, out of a total turnover of $7 billion, she specifies.
“These included funds stolen by hackers believed to be associated with North Korea,” she said.
Tornado Cash is one of the leading mixers, also known as tumblers, which help people hide the movements of their cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum by mixing them with transfers made by other users.
The US Treasury on Monday imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash. According to US authorities, this type of service is not illegal per se but is frequently used to move illicit funds.
Roman Semenov, the Russian founder of Tornado Cash, hinted in a statement on Twitter Monday that his company cannot control how users use its service.