BREAKING

It’s official, privacy coins like $XMR (monero) or platforms like tornado cash are now ILLEGAL in france. pic.twitter.com/mWPEfAGekj

— Crypto Beast (@cryptobeastreal) May 4, 2025

The End of Anonymity: France’s Regulatory Shift

Privacy coins have long posed a unique challenge to regulators due to their ability to obscure transaction data and user identities—features that appeal to privacy advocates but raise concerns among law enforcement and financial oversight bodies. France’s latest decision is aimed squarely at curbing these concerns, effectively outlawing the use, trade, and facilitation of cryptocurrencies and platforms designed to mask financial flows.

Monero, one of the most prominent privacy coins, utilizes ring signatures and stealth addresses to shield transaction origins, amounts, and recipients. Tornado Cash, meanwhile, is an Ethereum-based protocol that allows users to mix tokens to break transactional links, further enhancing anonymity. Both have come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, and France’s move echoes growing global sentiment that such privacy-enabling tools conflict with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) frameworks.

Legislative Justification and Market Implications

The French government’s decision is understood to be driven by a desire to align more closely with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines, which recommend strict oversight of virtual assets that impede traceability. French lawmakers have argued that total anonymity in financial transactions poses an unmanageable risk in combating illicit finance, tax evasion, and cybercrime.

The ban places France among the most restrictive European jurisdictions regarding privacy-enhancing crypto technologies, potentially pressuring other EU member states to adopt similar policies as the bloc finalizes its MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulatory framework. This could significantly hinder the adoption and utility of privacy coins within regulated financial environments.

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Global Context and Future Ramifications

France’s prohibition follows earlier moves by U.S. authorities, who sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022 over allegations that it had facilitated billions in money laundering activities, including for state-sponsored hacking groups like North Korea’s Lazarus Group. With France now joining the list of nations outlawing such platforms, a wider international crackdown could be imminent.

For privacy-focused crypto developers and advocates, the challenge moving forward will be navigating a world increasingly hostile to anonymity. While privacy remains a fundamental tenet for many in the blockchain space, regulatory tolerance for untraceable digital transactions is waning rapidly.

As Crypto Beast noted in their post, the ban is now official. For privacy coins and protocols, the clock may be ticking—not just in France, but globally—as regulators intensify efforts to bring every corner of the digital asset landscape under watchful scrutiny.

Disclaimer: This content is meant to inform and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author’s personal opinions and do not represent Times Tabloid’s opinion. Readers are urged to do in-depth research before making any investment decisions. Any action taken by the reader is strictly at their own risk. Times Tabloid is not responsible for any financial losses.

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In the recent tweet citing ten transactions on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) involving BUSD and BNB, reXx’s tweet also implied negligence on the part of Terraport’s team, as most of the stolen funds got channeled to crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

Read Also: Google Bard AI Predicts Terra Classic (LUNC) Price for the End of 2023

The Terraport team has neglected monitoring wallet movements involved in the rugpull.
(https://t.co/2sEX4oCSXx)

I occasionally check these wallets incase there is movement and I've spotted movement twice even though I'm one person and they have 20 extra pair of eyes to watch…

— reXx (@CosmoSreXx) June 18, 2023

Details Of Terra Classic (LUNC) Stolen Funds

Transaction details revealed that a combined estimated $88,649 worth of BUSD was transferred from MEXC to yet-to-be-identified wallets, after which these funds got moved to Tornado Cash.

The transactions culminating in the theft involved a series of different transactions, which started on June 14 down to June 18. Most transfers involved sending BUSD tokens from MEXC and KuCoin to unknown addresses and converting them to BNB coins, which would get pushed to Tornado Cash.

A relatable scenario is an address said to receive $39,872 worth of stolen BUSD from MEXC via five different transactions. The address exchanged the BUSD tokens for 159.9 BNB, which got forwarded to Tornado Cash, and another 58.9 BNB got sent to another address. The recipient address finally mixed the BNB with other funds it got earlier, transferring all the assets to Tornado Cash.

Read Also: Crypto Community Sets Terra Classic (LUNC) Price for June 30th as Parity Upgrade Launches

Terraport Perceived Failure To Track These Fraudulent Transactions

reXx expressed utter disappointment in Terraport’s team negligence, culminating in a loss estimated at about $88,649 worth of BUSD. Per reXx, the Terraport team failed to effectively observe these suspicious movements and raise the alarm, noting that he noticed such fraudulent transaction moves twice, even as an individual.

Furthermore, reXx maintained that active monitoring could have prevented many assets from getting to BSC by freezing some of these acquisitions.

However, reXx confirmed that he obtained access to the BSC transaction details when he contacted the exchanges involved. He noted that the exchange said Terraport is yet to make any significant move regarding the pending fraudulent issue.

For anyone trying to defend this team. If the movements were “monitored” then the funds wouldn’t have made it to the BSC network. All prior funds that were sent to exchanges were frozen due to active monitoring.

— reXx (@CosmoSreXx) June 18, 2023

Read Also: Terra Classic Proposal to Bring USTC to $1 Passes. Here’s How LUNC would Benefit

Basis Of Relaunching The Terra Classic-Based DeFi Platform By Terraport

Terraport’s apparent negligence seemed to beg the question if the team deserves another chance to relaunch the Terra Classic-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. Notably, the Terra Classic development group behind the outlet, TerraCVita, has revealed their plan to relaunch after the CertiK audit.

Remarkably, the project has recorded progress in its Certik audit in addition to obtaining its Certik Silver KYC Badge. Sources confirmed that the CertiK team sent a statement of the audit to the Terraport team and is awaiting their assessment.

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The post Hacked Terra Classic (LUNC) Moved to Tornado Cash: Exchange Speaks about Terraport Negligence appeared first on Times Tabloid.

Among the many popular decentralized cross-chains adopted by cyber robbers when seeking to launder proceeds of crypto heists is RenBridge. 

Other similar bridging service providers and protocols that facilitate anonymous asset movements include Tornado Cash, Portal, cBridge, and Synapse. 

According to a Wednesday report by Elliptic Connect, an entity that provides blockchain analytics for crypto asset compliance, crypto criminals have carted away at least $540 million through Renbridge so far.  

The analysis also shows that the cross-chain platform was used to launder over $2.4 million out of the $156 million stolen in the recent Nomad bridge heist. 

Related: Nomad Offers $19 Million Bounty and Promises to Tag $190 Million Bridge Hackers as White Hats

Per the report, RenBridge facilitated the laundering of ransomware proceeds and crypto assets amounting to more than $153 million linked to North Korea. 

As revealed in the report, the RenBridge protocol also fostered the movement of over $153 million in ransom payments sent to Russia-linked ransomware gangs.

Other cross-chain crimes enabled by RenBridge include the $53 million plus stolen by the Conti cybercrime group and the $92 million-plus ransomware attacks perpetrated by Ryuk. 

Part of the report said;

“Crypto assets stolen from exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) services worth at least $267.2 million have been laundered through RenBridge over the past two years.

This includes $33.8 million stolen from the Japanese crypto exchange Liquid in August 2021. In total, $97 million was stolen from Liquid, in an attack that has been linked to North Korea.”

Read Also: US Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash For Supporting Cyber Crimes

Crypto Mixing Services Posing Threats

Crypto protocols that technologically support and facilitate cyber crimes, by providing financial privacy and anonymous transactions pose serious challenges to regulators. However, these platforms have also been used for good reasons, like anonymous philanthropic donations. 

Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s Chief Scientist said, “Cross-chain bridges are a loophole in the regulatory regime that has been painstakingly established by governments around the world, to combat crypto laundering.”

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer, on Monday and barred U.S. citizens from using the platform.

The post Over $540 Million Laundered by Crypto Hackers Via RenBridge Cross-Chain Protocol: Report appeared first on Times Tabloid.

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced the sanctioning of Tornado Cash on Monday.

According to the disclosure, Vitalik Buterin chose the protocol which facilitates anonymous transactions to protect the recipients of the donations, not himself. 

“I’ll out myself as someone who has used Tornado Cash to donate to this exact cause. My intent was protecting the recipients, not myself. The RU government knows my positions on the Ukraine issue anyway,” Vitalik Buterin stated. 

I'll out myself as someone who has used TC to donate to this exact cause.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 9, 2022

This he said in response to a Twitter discussion about the sanctioning of Tornado Cash and the blacklisting of certain wallet addresses by the watchdog agency, OFAC.

The discussion started with Jeff Coleman on the need for financial privacy, especially in the case of donating to the Ukrainians during the intense war with the Russian government.   

He wrote, “wanting to donate to Ukraine is a great example of a valid need for financial privacy: even if the government where you live is in full support, you might not want the Russian government to have full details of your actions.”

Wanting to donate to Ukraine is a great example of a valid need for financial privacy: even if the government where you live is in full support, you might not want Russian government to have full details of your actions.

— Jeff Coleman | Jeff.eth (@technocrypto) August 9, 2022

Read Also: US Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash For Supporting Cyber Crimes

Tornado Cash Sanctioned

The crypto mixer was sanctioned on Monday by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for facilitating and technologically supporting cyber crimes and money laundering. 

So far, crypto hackers have laundered over $7 billion worth of assets using Tornado Cash. Henceforth, U.S. citizens have been banned from using the services of the crypto mixing protocol. 

While several entities have complied with this action by OFAC, some companies like Coin Center, a similar platform that facilitates crypto lobbying believe that the sanctions may be illegal citing that it goes against the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

Meanwhile, the United States-based stablecoin issuer, Circle, has blacklisted all addresses on the OFAC sanction list. In turn, about 75,000 USDC belonging to Tornado users have been locked by Circle.

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The post Vitalik Buterin Admits Using the U.S.-Sanctioned Tornado Cash to Donate to Ukraine appeared first on Times Tabloid.

The department reveals that the crypto-mixing service has technologically supported cyber thefts amounting to over $7 billion. As a matter of national safety, the watchdog agency has barred United States citizens from using the services of Tornado Cash. 

In a Monday Press Release, it’s stated that the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has taken drastic actions against Tornado Cash. 

The sanctioning of the virtual currency mixer comes as the platform has been severally adopted by cyber criminals and crypto hackers to launder stolen assets. A similar platform, Blender.io was previously sanctioned by the Agency.

Tornado Cash, which aids these fraudsters and hackers to stay anonymous while laundering funds, was recently used in the Nomad crypto heist. As reported, around $190 million worth of crypto assets was stolen in the Nomad hack on August 2, 2022. 

In June 2022, the crypto mixer was also used to move more than $96 million derived from the hack of Harmony Bridge. 

Read Also: Ethereum Users Will Soon Be Able To Make Private Transactions As Tornado Cash Set To Launch On Arbitrum Layer Two Network

Brian E. Nelson, Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said; “Today, Treasury is sanctioning Tornado Cash, a virtual currency mixer that launders the proceeds of cybercrimes, including those committed against victims in the United States.”

“Despite public assurances otherwise, Tornado Cash has repeatedly failed to impose effective controls designed to stop it from laundering funds for malicious cyber actors on a regular basis and without basic measures to address its risks. The Treasury will continue to aggressively pursue actions against mixers that launder virtual currency for criminals and those who assist them,” he added.

Due to these accumulated atrocities, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blocked all property and interests in the property of Tornado Cash situated in the United States or in the possession or control of citizens of the United States.

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The post US Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash For Supporting Cyber Crimes appeared first on Times Tabloid.

Deployment of the protocol on the layer two network, Arbitrum, will give Ethereum users the ability to make private transactions.

Read Also: Crypto Enthusiasts Raise $47 Million in Ethereum (ETH) To Purchase Rare Copy of U.S. Constitution

The announcement that came on 29th November explained that the protocol that is set to get deployed on Arbitrum will “allow users to take advantage of all the benefits a Layer 2 can offer, with cheaper transactions being the biggest comparative advantage.”

About Tornado Cash

Tornado Cash is a fully decentralized Ethereum mixer protocol, which masks the path that digital tokens such as ETH take from sender to receiver, giving users the ability to initiate private transactions without the need for privacy-based tokens.

Layer two networks on Ethereum enjoy faster transactions and cheaper fees while still leveraging the security and decentralization of the Ethereum network.

Read Also: Ethereum (ETH) Outflows from Exchanges Surge to New All-Time High, Signal “Buy the Dip” Sentiment

The team behind the protocol believes that once it’s fully deployed on Arbitrum, users will be able to initiate private transactions without the high gas fees on the Ethereum network.

According to the team, layer two network transactions are expected to be around 95% cheaper than those transactions effected on layer one network.

What Users Must Do To Leverage Tornado Cash on Arbitrum

To use Tornado Cash on Arbitrum, users must first send ETH, ERC-20, ERC-721 tokens from Ethereum to Arbitrum through Arbitrum Bridge.

Read Also: Discord to Integrate Ethereum in Its Network via Metamask and WalletConnect

Meanwhile, Arbitrum has been experiencing a steady growth in terms of the number of unique addresses since September. The Number of unique addresses created on the network currently stands at 291,876. According to DeFiPulse, Tornado Cash has $847 million in TVL. It’s second only to Boba Network with $1.38 billion in TLV.

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