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Did the Tornado Cash Developer have ties to the Russian FSB?

 


Reports appear to indicate that popular crypto mixer Tornado Cash is allegedly linked to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Authorities in Netherlands arrested one of Tornado Cash's developers, who is alleged to be a former FSB employee, Kharon reports. After the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash, the developer was arrested.


Kharon also discovered that Alexey was Pertsv, Founder and CEO of PepperSEC and that he was an information security specialist and developer of Cmart Contracts for Digital Security OOO. This was considered by the US Treasury to provide material and technological support to the FSB.

The ministry also says the company has helped the intelligence agency hone its cyber skills.


To make Tornado Cash more decentralized, a Tornado Fund was created. It was discovered that this fund is used to finance the software developers behind Tornado Cash.


According to the report, other people are also being investigated. There may be further arrests of those who are not named.


The Netherlands' Fiscal Information and Investigative Service (FIOD) also says at least $1 billion that went through the mixer was of criminal origin.


Tornado Cash made headlines because the mixer was often used by hacker groups to launder funds. After approval by the US Treasury Department, three people's Github accounts were closed and the source code was also removed.

Tornado Cash has become an area of ​​focus for many governments. The US government has banned its citizens from using it.


Many hackers use Tornado Cash to cover their tracks. Axie Infinity hacker laundered 7.5% of stolen ETH through the service despite the platform complying with sanctions and blocking the respective ETH address.

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