No, Tornado Cash is code, not a service operated by any entity.
North Korea also used HTTP for navigating websites which helped them hack targets and also launder more money. Banning Tornado Cash is like banning the HTTP specification/IETF for that, instead of going after the group in North Korea doing the money laundering/hacking.
The sanctions are literally added to the OFAC's SDN list, and consists of addresses and contracts. Neither of those things are services or operations, they are quite literally just executable code. See for yourself: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/...
> consists of addresses and contracts. Neither of those things are services or operations, they are quite literally just executable code
Guns are quite literally just atoms. The context matters. Not all guns are illegal. But ones used to commit crimes will get lawfully seized. The code exists in context, and the developers’ actions and intentions are relevant. None of this is novel.
>No, Tornado Cash is code, not a service operated by any entity.
This is the kind of sociopathic irresponsibility that's too common in tech. "Oh, it's not my fault my lab-grown monster decided to terrorize the countryside!"
OFAC's attacks on privacy are sociopathically irresponsible, and unlike Tornado Cash the federal government has actual monsters with weapons terrorizing the countryside.
North Korea also used HTTP for navigating websites which helped them hack targets and also launder more money. Banning Tornado Cash is like banning the HTTP specification/IETF for that, instead of going after the group in North Korea doing the money laundering/hacking.