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.
okx
1. Garantex Tornado cashokx2. okx
Star (@star_okx) August 9, 2024
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, OKXs 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.
OKXs 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.
#okx #urgentALL @okx EXCHANGE USERS ARE AT RISK
Since 2019, I have been a partner of the OKX exchange, recommended it to you and actively used it myself.
Until today, it worked honestly and stably.
But today, I regret to admit that the exchange policy and all the pic.twitter.com/fQiDRj6aHO
Satoshi Friends (@slezisatoshi) August 8, 2024
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
OKXs 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 Storma trio of Russian immigrants living in Europefounded 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
Read more: https://www.newsbtc.com/news/okx-takes-action-accounts-involving-tornado-cash-to-be-banned/
Text source: NewsBTC
