- Netherlands’ financial crimes investigator says it has arrested a suspected Tornado Cash developer in Amsterdam
- The US Treasury sanctioned dozens of blockchain addresses with ties to the crypto mixer earlier this week
Dutch financial crimes agency FIOD arrested a 29-year-old developer in Amsterdam on Wednesday over suspected involvement in laundering money through crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
“Multiple arrests are not ruled out,” the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service said in a statement, adding that the male suspect had been brought before a judge.
The arrest comes after the US Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash addresses earlier this week over allegations it laundered $7 billion worth of digital assets since it launched in 2019.
“The online service [Tornado Cash] makes it possible to conceal the origin or destination of cryptocurrencies,” the Dutch regulator said.
The Tornado Cash protocol and its user interface are open source, meaning that anyone can contribute to its code.
“The (criminal) origin of the cryptocurrencies is often not or hardly checked by such mixing services. Users of a mixing service mostly do this to increase their anonymity.”
This story is developing.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/netherlands-arrests-suspected-tornado-cash-dev-days-after-us-sanctions/