Jack Recider

There are nonprofits that I know of who go to great lengths to keep their donors private because donors don't want the public to know what causes they're giving towards and don't want any extra solicitation from people asking them for more money. But I keep thinking about stories of people living in oppressive regimes, China, Russia, Iran.

If you live there and speak up against the government, you could easily go to jail. And these governments want strict control over their citizens, so monitoring financial transactions is crucial to keeping a strong grip on them. So dissenters and activists in these countries absolutely need a way to send and receive money in a private way.

If you live there and speak up against the government, you could easily go to jail. And these governments want strict control over their citizens, so monitoring financial transactions is crucial to keeping a strong grip on them. So dissenters and activists in these countries absolutely need a way to send and receive money in a private way.

To support their cause and educate people in the atrocities of their own government. Their life depends on private financial transactions. Churches and charities don't care if you deliver them a big bag of cash as an anonymous donor. And that's none of anyone's business if I want to donate anonymously. I want the same thing for digital transactions.

To support their cause and educate people in the atrocities of their own government. Their life depends on private financial transactions. Churches and charities don't care if you deliver them a big bag of cash as an anonymous donor. And that's none of anyone's business if I want to donate anonymously. I want the same thing for digital transactions.

I think taking down privacy tools like Tornado Cash hurts regular people.

I think taking down privacy tools like Tornado Cash hurts regular people.

I want to just take a step back here and note that this story wasn't possible like 10 years ago. This is such a novel new world we're in. Money used to only be physical, but with credit cards, it's turned virtual. And with everything being online today, we need digital money. Money used to be controlled by governments, but now with cryptocurrency, it's controlled by the people.

I want to just take a step back here and note that this story wasn't possible like 10 years ago. This is such a novel new world we're in. Money used to only be physical, but with credit cards, it's turned virtual. And with everything being online today, we need digital money. Money used to be controlled by governments, but now with cryptocurrency, it's controlled by the people.

And it's like we're in the middle of a major revolution here. Money is power, and the governments are losing their power as cryptocurrency becomes more widespread, so of course they'd want to put up a fight against it. And now with smart contracts and DAOs, businesses can be fully autonomous and always online?

And it's like we're in the middle of a major revolution here. Money is power, and the governments are losing their power as cryptocurrency becomes more widespread, so of course they'd want to put up a fight against it. And now with smart contracts and DAOs, businesses can be fully autonomous and always online?

How crazy is that, that a company can exist and make money and act as an online service and it doesn't need to be maintained or controlled by anyone? This is an entirely new kind of problem for the U.S. government to deal with, and they don't really have a good way to combat against it other than sanctioning the code. If you aren't familiar with how sanctions work, it means the U.S.

How crazy is that, that a company can exist and make money and act as an online service and it doesn't need to be maintained or controlled by anyone? This is an entirely new kind of problem for the U.S. government to deal with, and they don't really have a good way to combat against it other than sanctioning the code. If you aren't familiar with how sanctions work, it means the U.S.

Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is OFAC, has declared that you are forbidden to interact with Tornado Cash. If you do, you might get arrested. But it also means your money may become frozen if you send it to an exchange. I mean, typically, when I buy things or go online, I don't ever think about whether or not I'm violating sanctions.

Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is OFAC, has declared that you are forbidden to interact with Tornado Cash. If you do, you might get arrested. But it also means your money may become frozen if you send it to an exchange. I mean, typically, when I buy things or go online, I don't ever think about whether or not I'm violating sanctions.

Like, for instance, if North Korea is sanctioned, I don't expect North Korean-made goods to be in my supermarket where I could buy them and break sanction codes or something. I assume the shop owner knows not to buy sanctioned items to try to sell them to me. So it's completely off my radar. But here's a situation which I think is the first time ever that an online application is sanctioned

Like, for instance, if North Korea is sanctioned, I don't expect North Korean-made goods to be in my supermarket where I could buy them and break sanction codes or something. I assume the shop owner knows not to buy sanctioned items to try to sell them to me. So it's completely off my radar. But here's a situation which I think is the first time ever that an online application is sanctioned

This is unprecedented. And so now, I don't know how to navigate this world. Am I supposed to check the sanctions list every time I go online, visit a website, buy something, use an online service? This breaks my brain.

This is unprecedented. And so now, I don't know how to navigate this world. Am I supposed to check the sanctions list every time I go online, visit a website, buy something, use an online service? This breaks my brain.

So North Korea sent about $450 million worth of crypto to Tornado Cash to try to mix it.