Tornado Cash Processed Over $77 Million in Past 30 Days: Arkham

As per blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, $77.35 million in assets have flown through Tornado Cash’s contracts on Ethereum mainnet in the past 30 days. 

Despite being sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in August 2022, Tornado Cash remains the largest crypto mixed on Ethereum network.

The US authorities argued that Tornado Cash was used by North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group to launder millions of dollars in crypto. 

Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov currently face allegations of money laundering and sanctions violations.

Tornado Cash’s Assets Drop by Over 60% Since Sanctions

Arkham reported that Tornado Cash’s assets have dropped by over 60% and transfer volume declined significantly after it was sanctioned by the US regulators in August last year.

Tornado Cash is still the largest crypto mixer on Ethereum, even after the August 2022 US Treasury sanctions.

$77.35M in assets flowed through its contracts on ETH Mainnet in the past 30 days. pic.twitter.com/dBpxmN1gqb

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 9, 2023

However, both total value locked (TVL) and transfer volume recovered somewhat later.

Current TVL of Tornado Cash stands at $118.3K ETH worth $187.9 million. 

Tornado Cash operates on 7 different chains, and obfuscates transfers of 10 different cryptocurrencies.

The most mixed asset on the platform is native ETH on Ethereum Mainnet. At its peak in July 2021, Tornado Cash held over $700M of ETH in its pool contracts.

Hackers Continues to Utilize Tornado Cash for Money Laundering

Tornado Cash has been used by the Lazarus Group, associated with the DPRK, to launder currency stolen from Sky Mavis’s Ronin Bridge.

Hackers use Tornado Cash as a way to legitimize their source of funds by removing connections to a hacked wallet or illicit crypto activity, making it a target of authorities around the world.

As reported by Arkham, almost all of the top multi million dollar crypto hacks have utilized Tornado Cash to launder the proceeds.

Earlier, Coinbase-backed lawsuit against US Treasury Department sought to overturn the ban on the crypto mixer claiming it is in violation of free speech as Tornado Cash is an open-source software. 

However, the court ruled in favor of the United States Department of the Treasury.