US Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota is in search of readability on the Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management’s (OFAC) latest banning of crypto mixer Twister Money.
In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Emmer says that the federal government’s unprecedented sanction of Twister Money is exclusive in that it was imposed in opposition to a “privacy-enabling” code.
“It’s our understanding that Twister Money is just the anonymizing software program deployed on the blockchain, which manages any tokens despatched to it by Ethereum customers.”
He says that the sanctions are the primary imposed on one thing aside from an individual or entity, which poses a problem because the affected blockchain addresses do not need the flexibility to enchantment and communicate for themselves.
“A number of of the Twister Money Ethereum addresses should not, to our information, a person, or entity. Fairly, they’re sensible contract addresses whose operation is decided completely by open-source software program discovered on the Ethereum blockchain.
In different phrases, the addresses don’t look like an individual, entity, or property (all correctly the goal of sanctions); they’re as an alternative, extensively distributed technological instruments and they aren’t below the management of any entity or pure individuals.”
The legislator penned the letter after OFAC banned People from utilizing Twister Money claiming it was a nationwide safety menace for its ties to cybercriminals, together with the North Korea-backed hacking group Lazarus.
The protocol’s suspected developer was additionally arrested within the Netherlands for allegedly laundering cash.
The banning prompted crypto advocacy group Coin Middle to think about difficult OFAC’s determination in court docket saying that the company exceeded its statutory authority in sanctioning the protocol.
Emmer says that he shares OFAC’s concern on the illicit use of Twister Money, however notes that law-abiding folks additionally use the service to anonymize authorized transactions.
“The rising adoption of decentralized know-how will definitely elevate new challenges for OFAC. Nonetheless, know-how is impartial and the expectation of privateness is regular.”
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