OKX Takes Action: Accounts Involving Tornado Cash To Be Banned

The cryptocurrency exchange OKX has announced a firm policy banning accounts linked to the questionable mixing service Tornado Cash in an attempt to prevent illicit activity and promote compliance with international laws.

According to OKX CEO Star Xu, any account found to be exploited by Tornado Cash or other authorized firms like Garantex would be cancelled without delay.

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Tornado Cash Controversy

Tornado Cash is recognized for hiding crypto transactions, which unscrupulous people exploit to launder money and commit other crimes. The firm is under more regulatory scrutiny after the US Treasury Department penalized it in 2023 for allowing over $7 billion in unlawful transactions.

OKX Compliance Measures

Nowadays, OKX’s risk control systems are programmed to automatically find and close accounts linked to Tornado Cash or another approved company. Xu underlined that the interaction is necessary to follow relevant sanctions rules, particularly those enforced by the United States.

OKX’s Tornado Cash crackdown follows allegations of the service sending stolen money via protocol attacks. On August 7, the Rain crypto exchange hacker laundered 1,155 Ether using Tornado Cash.

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Response To User Concerns

Xu said that the user has before made large transactions via approved exchanges or DeFi systems. The individual was still allowed to withdraw clean money before their account was banned nonetheless.

Emphasizing that OKX cannot provide services to sanctioned individuals or companies, Xu clarified that compliance concerns made it impossible to move data from an old account to a new one.

Xu informed the wider user base that most consumers operate distant from approved businesses, hence most of them are unlikely to be harmed. He underlined that preserving the commitment of the exchange to financial integrity and regulatory compliance depends on these steps.

Impact On Tornado Cash

OKX’s deactivation of Tornado Cash accounts follows a crypto industry trend towards regulatory compliance and legality. Binance and Kraken both delist privacy coins and prohibit mixing.

Roman Semenov, Alexey Pertsev, and Roman Storm—a trio of Russian immigrants living in Europe—founded Tornado Cash in 2019.

Pertsev was sentenced to five years in jail in May 2024 for breaking anti-money laundering regulations with transactions utilizing Tornado Cash.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView