The Tornado Cash case and the future of our financial privacy

New judiciary documents in the Tornado Cash case highlight the fields where the next battle for our financial privacy will take place.

This article is part of a series in which I will recount the history and current developments of the insidious war on encryption and encrypted communications.

In this episode, we explore the judicial developments of the Tornado Cash case - very important also for the case of Samourai Wallet and for the future of our financial privacy in general.

Read the past episodes here.

These are intense days for those in the crypto community more interested in privacy and libertarian principles than gains.

Last week, the founders of Samourai Wallet, a famous Bitcoin wallet, were arrested on charges of money laundering. According to the Department of Justice, this stems from programming a Bitcoin coinjoin system called Whirlpool.

Almost simultaneously, on April 26, the first judicial documents (in response to the motion to dismiss) of the Tornado Cash case (2022).

When the Tornado Cash developers were arrested, there was not much of an uproar; it was a news soon forgotten. After all, it was a mixing service for Ethereum, and let's say that the Bitcoiner community is not known for being open to others.

Yet, the Tornado Cash case risks setting an important precedent that will then be used in all future cases, including that of Samourai Wallet.