Tornado Cash is not just for criminals, despite what regulators think

Welcome back. This week, Jacquelyn and Anita ran the show while Lucas was off on vacation. We got up to speed on the U.S. government’s crackdown on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash because of its role in facilitating money laundering. While it’s true that hackers have long used Tornado to fuel illicit activity, we tried to answer some bigger questions: what is a mixer in the first place, and what exactly would someone use one for if not crime?

This week’s episode comes just after Coinbase announced its long-awaited, ultimately disappointing second-quarter results, so we ran through the numbers and what they mean for the industry. We also talked about Binance and Indian exchange WazirX, which might never, ever, ever be getting back together.

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Helpful links:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/08/ethereum-co-founder-sees-role-diminishing-as-blockchain-becomes-increasingly-decentralized/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/08/treasury-tornado-cash-laundering-stolen-crypto/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/09/coinbases-earnings-fall-short-of-expectations-as-crypto-winter-rages/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/06/binance-says-it-doesnt-own-indian-exchange-wazirx-years-after-acquisition-announcement/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/08/binance-tells-estranged-partner-wazirx-customers-to-move-funds-to-discontinue-off-chain-transfer/

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.