The US sanctioned Tornado Cash over fears the 'mixer' platform aided North Korean hackers.
The illicit funds flowing through Tornado Cash are just the tip of the iceberg and Pyongyang's exploitation of cryptocurrency mixers to aid the proliferation of its deadly arsenal is a growing threat.
On this week's The Crypto Mile our host Brian McGleenon is joined by King Mallory, the director of the Centre for Global Risk and Security at the RAND Corporation, to discuss pariah states using crypto for violating sanctions.
The cryptocurrency ecosystem is at a crossroads; whether to champion the anonymity and privacy provided by the creative algorithms of its brightest developers or acquiesce to the strong-arm tactics of government agencies, such as OFAC, the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Mallory warns that the window of opportunity for the crypto sector to self-regulate is closing and that major resources could soon be directed by the international community to crush crypto channels that allow sanctions evasion.
Will crypto fold to the pressure and give in to the centralised authority, or will it be pushed to the margins by heavy-handed regulatory actions and eventually diminish into obscurity, far from the dream of mass adoption that has long been promised?