1/24/24: Legal Storm Over Tornado Cash 🌪️🤑🔐

Top News

  • 🌪️ Tornado Cash devs raise $350k legal defense fund

  • 🤑 Trump’s wallet now holds $1M of TRUMP meme coin

  • 🔐 BitGo receives undisclosed investment from 164yro Brinks Global

Specs’ Insights

⌐◪-◪ → A historical battle for privacy is happening right now between the creators of Tornado Cash, who face allegations of money laundering/sanctions, and the US Government.

The DOJ says $1 billion+ crypto was moved through their mixer, which obfuscates senders/receivers in crypto transactions.

Holding software developers who create tools/public goods responsible for the actions (crimes) of others — which, by the way, is completely out of their control — highlights the authoritarian nature of our system.

Think about it…

Do we hold the government responsible for crimes committed on the public infrastructure they create/maintain like roads or the US dollar fiat? No, we don’t.

At the end of the day, code is just words and, therefore, is protected by free speech. In fact, I might join my buddy JOSΞPH in publishing Tornado Cash’s code everywhere I can.

Seriously though, this is a very important case. Even Edward Snowden agrees.

⌐◪-◪ → Degens speculate on the TRUMP meme-coin, hoping it will surge if Trump is elected President.

Interestingly, this bet has partially paid off.

Arkham reports that someone sent $7,100 TRUMP meme-coins to a Trump-linked address, which are now worth over $1 million.

I hope whoever manages Trump's wallet takes note and capitalizes on these gains. As Elon Musk always says, "The most entertaining outcome is the most likely."

Donald, I know you're reading this, send me the TRUMP coins.

⌐◪-◪ → Okay, I definitely did not see this one coming, but I love it.

Brinks Global, the 164-year-old company behind the famous cash-transporting armored trucks, just invested in crypto custodian BitGo.

Nothing brings me more joy than seeing the old world of money collide with the new digital world of money, over what I reckon are deeply shared values of self-custody and freedom.

Apparently, this isn’t Brink’s first foray into digital assets either; they started workign with Metco — a Swiss crypto custody firm — back in 2022.

If Brinks plays their cards right, they might just last another 164 years.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Celsius Network moves $1.2B ETH ahead of liquidations

  • Cornell University approves first Bitcoin-focused degree

  • Mode to receive $5.3M grant from Optimism Foundation

  • Noble partners with Hasnote on tokenized securities on Cosmos

  • Hacker impersonates web3 companies and drains $600k

  • ClayStack enters ETH restaking via EigenLayer, offers rewards

  • OKX’s token suffers 50% flash crash amid liquidation cascade

  • UMA launches Oval to capture 'oracle extractable value'

  • Aevo to open up its rollup for other protocols to build on

  • Solana protocol Drift announces points program ahead of launch

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • SEC’s Hester Peirce says Bitcoin ETF 'lesson will certainly stick'

  • FINRA says 70% of crypto comms it reviewed violated rules

  • BIS confirms tokenization project as part of 2024 focus

🌎 Rest of the World

  • Nexo seeking $4B in damages from Bulgaria

  • South Korea issues warrant in Delio and Haru Invest case

  • Taiwan seeks detention of ACE Exchange amid fraud probe

  • Pakistan’s BTC adoption grows without regulatory clarity

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse