{"id":12982,"date":"2024-04-26T16:29:43","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T13:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/cryptoquant-ceo-defends-legality-of-cryptocurrency-mixing\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T16:29:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T13:29:43","slug":"cryptoquant-ceo-defends-legality-of-cryptocurrency-mixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/cryptoquant-ceo-defends-legality-of-cryptocurrency-mixing\/","title":{"rendered":"CryptoQuant CEO Defends Legality of Cryptocurrency Mixing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In response to the arrest of Samourai Wallet founders, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju asserted the legality of digital asset mixing services.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The US DOJ has arrested pioneers in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bitcoin?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Bitcoin<\/a> privacy technology.<\/p>\n<p>Privacy stands as a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing itself is not a crime. Even crypto exchanges use mixing to safeguard user privacy.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s like punishing the inventor of the knife instead of the one who uses it. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/S7qcqtqCJh\">https:\/\/t.co\/S7qcqtqCJh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ki_young_ju\/status\/1783290302822064461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 25, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe US Department of Justice has arrested pioneers of Bitcoin privacy technology. Privacy is a core value of blockchain. Mixing itself is not a crime,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ju noted that even crypto exchanges use mixing to protect users. The CEO of CryptoQuant compared the accusations against crypto mixer developers to \u201cpersecuting the inventor of the knife.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The arrest of Samourai Wallet founders has sparked widespread concern in the crypto community. Participants fear this may signal another attempt by the US government to pressure the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Former <span data-descr=\"National Security Agency\" class=\"old_tooltip\">NSA<\/span> and <span data-descr=\"Central Intelligence Agency\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CIA<\/span> employee Edward Snowden called the arrests an infringement on personal freedoms.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Department of &#8220;Justice&#8221; has once again criminalized the developers of an app that restores financial privacy. The way to fix this it to make money private by default. Privacy must never be &#8220;exceptional,&#8221; or they will make it criminal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edward Snowden (@Snowden) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Snowden\/status\/1783222542464884911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe Department of Justice has once again criminalized the developers of an app that creates financial privacy. To fix this, make money private by default. Privacy must never be \u2018exceptional,\u2019 or they will criminalize it,\u201d Snowden noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to crypto analyst Ryan Adams, the authorities are sending a hint that \u201cno transaction will be private.\u201d The charges against the Samourai Wallet founders could result in up to 25 years in prison, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The US is sending a message.<\/p>\n<p>No transaction will be private.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8ToyHQD7nw\">https:\/\/t.co\/8ToyHQD7nw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RYAN S\u039eAN ADAMS \u2014 rsa.eth ? (@RyanSAdams) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanSAdams\/status\/1783242689065988599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In recent years, regulators have begun to tighten rhetoric regarding crypto mixers. Specifically, <span data-descr=\"Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the US Department of the Treasury\" class=\"old_tooltip\">FinCEN<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fincen.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/federal_register_notices\/2023-10-19\/FinCEN_311MixingNPRM_FINAL.pdf\">plans<\/a> to declare them \u201cmoney laundering hubs\u201d that threaten US national security.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In March 2024, a US jury <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-fog-operator-found-guilty-of-money-laundering\">found<\/a> Russian Roman Sterlingov guilty of operating the Bitcoin Fog crypto mixer and laundering over $400 million. He faces up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Charges of money laundering and sanctions violations have also been brought against Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. The former was released on bail. The latter remained free but faced restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to the arrest of Samourai Wallet founders, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju asserted the legality of digital asset mixing services. The US DOJ has arrested pioneers in #Bitcoin privacy technology. Privacy stands as a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing itself is not a crime. Even crypto exchanges use mixing to safeguard user privacy. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1205,1138,1512],"class_list":["post-12982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-cryptoquant","tag-opinions","tag-samourai-wallet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"16","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}