3 months ago
The Stanford Blockchain Club has issued a scathing critique of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) prosecution of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, calling it an overreach of outdated national wealth transmission laws.
In its report, titled “Tornado Cash and the Boundaries of Money Transmission,” the nine challenged the DOJ’s usage of 18 U.S.C. § 1960, a statute aimed astatine unlicensed money-transmitting businesses, to complaint the developers of Tornado Cash, a decentralized Ethereum-based protocol.
The DOJ’s 2023 indictment labeled Tornado Cash an “unlicensed wealth transmitting business” for enabling users to anonymize crypto transactions.
The Stanford Blockchain Club argued that the statute, written earlier the advent of blockchain technology, fails to code the nuances of decentralized protocols similar Tornado Cash, which run done immutable astute contracts without intermediaries oregon custodians.
According to the report:
“The DOJ’s assertive exertion of 18 U.S.C. § 1960 raises broader questions astir the risks of stretching statutory connection to screen caller technologies. This attack invites unelected officials and the judiciary to overstep their law bounds, bypassing Congress’ authorization to legislate.”
The study emphasized the law implications of utilizing enforcement enforcement to modulate emerging technologies. It warned that specified actions circumvent the antiauthoritarian process and hazard stifling innovation by conflating ineligible usage cases of privacy-preserving tools with illicit activity.
Stanford University, known for its enactment successful some ineligible and technological innovation, has a past of engaging with analyzable regulatory challenges. The blockchain club’s study continues this contented by delving into the hostility betwixt privateness rights and regulatory oversight successful the integer concern space.
The Tornado Cash lawsuit highlights a increasing statement astir fiscal privateness and the hazard of these caller technologies being misused by atrocious actors.
Advocates, including the Stanford Blockchain Club, reason that protocols similar Tornado Cash fulfill morganatic privateness needs by allowing individuals to support their identities successful transactions. Meanwhile, critics contend that specified tools facilitate wealth laundering and different amerciable activities.
The report’s merchandise marks a important publication to ongoing discussions astir however the US ineligible strategy tin accommodate to DeFi technologies. It remains to beryllium seen whether the judiciary volition see specified critiques arsenic it continues to grapple with the complexities of blockchain regulation.
The station Stanford Blockchain Club slams DOJ’s usage of archaic laws successful Tornado Cash case appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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