August 19, 2022

Is TRM Labs Blocking Addresses From DeFi Protocols? Ari Redbord Says No - Ep.387

39 minutes

Ari Redbord, Head of Legal and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, talks about the sanctions on Tornado Cash, and the role of blockchain analytics tools in crypto.

Show highlights:

Ari’s background as a federal prosecutor and his work for the US Treasury

why regulators sanctioned Tornado Cash, according to Ari

why the Ronin hack was important for regulators to start taking DeFi hacks more seriously

the fact that for the first time the Treasury Department sanctioned software

whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) messed up

whether regulators understood the impact on regular users

the role of TRM and blockchain analytics tools in mitigating risk

how decentralized applications use tools like the ones provided by TRM to comply with regulations and to block addresses

why, if Ari were a regulator, he would focus on regulation guidance

whether the sanctions on Tornado Cash are unconstitutional

what the future of privacy in crypto looks like and whether the government is going after privacy technologies

Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch: https://1inch.io/

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Ari

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARedbord

Tornado Cash

Treasury Press release:

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0916#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%93%20Today%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Department,since%20its%20creation%20in%202019

Tornado Cash Sanctioned: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/08/08/crypto-mixing-service-tornado-cash-blacklisted-by-us-treasury/

Developer arrested: https://www.fiod.nl/arrest-of-suspected-developer-of-tornado-cash/

TRM Labs blog post:

https://www.trmlabs.com/post/how-defi-platforms-are-using-data-from-trm-labs-to-respond-to-tornado-cash-sanctions

Tornado Cash post on compliance: https://tornado-cash.medium.com/tornado-cash-compliance-9abbf254a370

Coin Center’s article authored by Jerry Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh: https://www.coincenter.org/u-s-treasury-sanction-of-privacy-tools-places-sweeping-restrictions-on-all-americans/

Second Coin Center article authored by Jerry Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh: https://www.coincenter.org/analysis-what-is-and-what-is-not-a-sanctionable-entity-in-the-tornado-cash-case/

Coin Center may challenge the US Treasury's decision to sanction Tornado Cash: https://decrypt.co/107475/coin-center-tornado-cash-ban-court

Circle freezes USDC in sanctioned wallets: https://www.theblock.co/post/162172/circle-freezes-usdc-funds-in-tornado-cashs-us-treasury-sanctioned-wallets

Crypto exchange dYdX blocked accounts that received funds from Tornado Cash: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/11/crypto-exchange-dydx-blocked-accounts-that-received-even-small-amounts-from-tornado-cash/

The possibility of forking Tornado Cash: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/08/10/cloning-tornado-cash-would-be-easy-but-risky/

What the sanctions mean for privacy coins: https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/08/09/what-the-tornado-cash-sanction-means-for-privacy-coins/

Tornado Cash laundered $1.5 billion, according to Elliptic: https://hub.elliptic.co/analysis/tornado-cash-mixer-sanctioned-after-laundering-over-1-5-billion/

Celebrities get Dusted: https://decrypt.co/es/107090/tornado-cash-dusts-public-wallets-jimmy-fallon-brian-armstrong-steve-aoki-logan-paul

Previous Coverage of Unchained:

Tornado Cash Sanctioned. Did the Government Overstep Its Bounds?: https://unchainedpodcast.com/tornado-cash-sanctioned-did-the-government-overstep-its-bounds-ep-384/

The Chopping Block: Did OFAC Overstep by Sanctioning Tornado Cash?: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-chopping-block-did-ofac-overstep-by-sanctioning-tornado-cash-ep-386/

** For more episode links and details visit the Unchained website **

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By Laura Shin