GitHub’s move comes after Ethereum developers called for mixer services to allow Tornado Cash code to be allowed on their platforms. On Thursday, code repositories for Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based mixer, were relisted at GitHub.
U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets prohibited Americans last Month from using Tornado Cash. This decentralized privacy service mixes cryptocurrency together to obscure the original address. Because the North Korean hacker group Lazarus had previously used the mixer, the mixer was designated under the Specially Designated National List.
You can find Tornado Cash Github repositories here
GitHub is a centralized internet service that allows software developers to create and share code. GitHub and other platforms removed Tornado Cash within hours of the OFAC announcement. This was in compliance with the new U.S. regulation.
The 1st Amendment protects computer code as speech, and Ethereum developers have asked for platforms hosting the Tornado Cash code’s to be removed from their sites. Preston Van Loon, an Ethereum core developer, asked for GitHub’s relisting of the mixer’s code in Sept.
OFAC published clarifications earlier this month on how Americans can recover Tornado Cash funds.
