Tether, the producer of USDT, does not block addresses associated with Tornado Cash, despite the sanctions of the US Treasury Department.
OFAC, subordinate of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Laundering more than $7 billion worth of money He placed Tornado Cash on the sanctions list on August 8, on the grounds that it was used for
In a recent Washington Post article, Tether’s Tornado Cash “may be in violation” of these sanctions because it does not block addresses was brought up.
Tether management made a statement on the subject today and announced that it did not receive any notification from OFAC to block addresses associated with Tornado Cash.
Tether management stated that as a company, they cooperate with the authorities in the USA and freeze certain wallets if the US government requests. However, according to the statement, the company has not yet For addresses linked to Tornado Cash, he received no such request:
“At Tether, we normally comply with the requests of the authorities in the USA and contact them almost daily. For example, we have frozen some (wallets) in cooperation with law enforcement in the USA […] Currently, no specific requests have been made from us to freeze addresses associated with Tornado Cash.”
Tether executives justified their decision not to block Tornado Cash addresses with the following words:
“Our unilateral freezing of addresses on the secondary market (as Tether) would have both negative consequences and a reckless move.”