Tornado Cash Seen as Key Laundering Tool for NFT Scams Before US Sanctions
- Before ban, 52% of proceeds laundered through mixer: Elliptic
- Reports says trend illustrates need for sanctions screening
The Tornado Cash website.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/BloombergTornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that was recently slapped with US sanctions, was the preferred tool for laundering illicit proceeds from nonfungible token scams prior to the ban, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic Enterprises.
The mixer “was the source of $137.6 million of cryptoassets processed by NFT marketplaces and the laundering tool of choice for 52% of NFT scam proceeds before being sanctioned,” the firm wrote in a report released Wednesday. Services offered by platforms like Tornado Cash can be used to mask transactions by mixing tokens from different sources before transferring them to the ultimate recipients -- making them a popular tool among illicit actors. Tornado Cash didn’t immediately return a request for comment.