Tornado.cash is a peer-to-peer anonymity service built on the Ethereum platform. It enables users to separate sender and recipient data, offering cutting-edge financial confidentiality.
Unlike traditional mixers, Tornado.cash uses smart contracts that operate without intermediaries, ensuring that users retain full control of their funds at all times. This trustless setup brings transparency and removes any central point of failure or censorship.
The core of Tornado Cash lies in privacy-preserving proofs, which enable transactions to be confirmed without disclosing specific deposit information. This ensures transaction obfuscation between the deposit and the withdrawal.
Because of its advanced privacy features, Tornado.cash quickly gained popularity by those seeking private fund movements. It’s used for shielding donor identities, among other legitimate needs.
However, this tool has also been scrutinized from governments. In 2022, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned the use of Tornado.cash, citing concerns over anonymity exploitation. Still, the protocol remains unstoppable since its smart contracts are immutable and cannot be taken offline.
Defenders believe that Tornado.cash is a permissionless system, much like the internet itself — and that code should remain free, even if some actors misuse them.
Use cases for Tornado Cash include:
Avoiding surveillance on major transfers
Sending donations safely
Using Ethereum tornado mixer without exposing history
As governments around the world push for more monitoring, the demand for tools like Tornado mixer continues to grow. The future of on-chain anonymity hinges on whether permissionless systems will be protected or suppressed.
Whether you're a developer or just someone looking to keep your activity private, Tornado.cash remains a popular tool in the world of ETH-based anonymity.