
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revealed that he personally used the now-sanctioned Ethereum mixer “Tornado Cash” when donating funds to Ukraine earlier this yr.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Twitter consumer Jeff Coleman known as for folks to supply documented examples of people utilizing Tornado Cash to donate to Ukraine. Tornado Cash is an Ethereum protocol that helps protect the privateness of customers’ on-chain transactions.
“Wanting to donate to Ukraine is a great example of a valid need for financial privacy,” mentioned Coleman.
In response, Vitalik provided himself as an instance. “I’ll out myself as someone who has used TC to donate to this exact cause,” he mentioned.
The co-founder added that he used the protocol as a method of defending the recipient’s identification, slightly than his personal. Hence, outing himself didn’t defeat the aim of his transaction.
Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Monday. The division said that over $7 billion in unlawful funds had been laundered via the protocol since 2019.
However, crypto trade leaders together with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire have argued that the division’s motion units a poor precedent for monetary privateness and safety on the planet of blockchain.