When a buyer uses a crypto wallet to pay for something, the recipient of the transfer has access to the buyer’s public crypto wallet, which displays account details and history. Tornado Cash is used by everyone as a legitimate way to protect their privacy and money in this still nascent developing crypto market.
By rendering the funds anonymous and masking the buyer’s identity, a crypto mixing service like Tornado Cash protects such crucial information. However, it has subsequently been noticed that Tornado Cash serves as the gateway for every hack on a blockchain-based protocol.
Tornado Cash has always been condemned by regulatory authorities around the world as it provides untraceable transactions. Eventually, as a result of this, the US government imposed sanctions on the crypto mixer.
Tornado Cash, on the other hand, has always had the backing of the blockchain community since it has maintained secrecy that no other dapp has been able to achieve. Inspite of the backlash and sanctions by the authorities, the community showing their support have created mirror links of the crypto mixer.
“Privacy is always condemned when accountability is required”
-Jahnu Jagtap
Let’s find out what this crypto mixer Dapp is.
What is Tornado Cash?
Tornado Cash is a completely decentralized non-custodial protocol that enables users to perform private transactions in the crypto-space.
The Ethereum blockchain has a decentralized protocol that has been used to build Tornado Cash smart contracts, making them immutable. They are impervious to modification or tampering. Because of this, nobody—not even the original developers—can change or disable them. The community deploys all governance and mining smart contracts decentralized.
As a non-custodial protocol, users keep custody of their cryptocurrencies while using Tornado Cash. This means that with each deposit, they are provided a private key that allows them to access the deposited funds, giving them complete control over their crypto assets.
How Does Tornado Cash Work?
Tornado cash mixes transactions using zero-knowledge proofs, which completely obscure their information. It essentially improves the privacy of transactions by breaking the on-chain link between a source and a destination address.
It accepts token deposits from one address and permits withdrawals from another using smart contracts to achieve secrecy. These smart contracts function as pools that combine all of the cryptocurrency deposits.
A private note is created when a user contributes money into a pool. This confidential note serves as the user’s private key to later access funds.
There is no on-chain connection between the source and the destination when a user later withdraws money from those pools using a brand-new address.
As a result, the crypto-assets that were withdrawn have become anonymous. Users retain custody of their tokens while they are in a Tornado Cash pool. As a result, users have complete control over their crypto tokens.
How to Use Tornado Cash?
Follow these steps to easily use the Dapp –
- Go to tornado.cash
- Connect your crypto wallet and select any cryptocurrency.
- Deposit your crypto token and note down your private key.
- Send a deposit and sign the transaction.
- To withdraw your funds just add your wallet address ( you may have to wait for 24 hr)
Where does Tornado Cash Operate?
As of today, Tornado Cash is operating on :
- Ethereum Blockchain: ETH (Ethereum), DAI (Dai), cDAI (Compound Dai), USDC (USD Coin), USDT (Tether) & WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin),
- Binance Smart Chain: BNB (Binance Coin),
- Polygon Network: MATIC (Polygon),
- Gnosis Chain (former xDAI Chain): xDAI (xDai),
- Avalanche Mainnet: AVAX (Avalanche),
- Optimism, as a Layer-2 for ETH (Ethereum),
- Arbitrum One, as a Layer-2 ETH
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