Former Tornado Cash Dev Launches Privacy Pools, a New Crypto Mixing Service

Privacy Pools uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to exclude themselves from an anonymity set that includes addresses associated with illegal activities

By Shashank Bhardwaj

2 min read

Published: Mar 9, 2023 07:29:25 PM IST

Updated: Mar 9, 2023 07:31:15 PM IST

Full Bio

Image: Shutterstock

Ameen Soleimani, a former developer for Tornado Cash, has announced that he is creating a new crypto mixing service called "Privacy Pools."

He claims that this new service addresses a "critical flaw" in Tornado Cash and hopes that this will persuade US regulators to reconsider their position on privacy mixers. The code for this new Ethereum-based mixer was released on GitHub on March 5th.

Soleimani posted a 22-part Twitter thread where he explained a "critical flaw" with Tornado Cash: users cannot provide evidence that they are not linked to criminal activities such as North Korea's Lazarus Group.

However, Soleimani claims that his new service, Privacy Pools, solves this issue by allowing users to exclude themselves from an anonymity set that includes addresses associated with money laundering or theft when they deposit or withdraw funds.

Privacy Pools uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to exclude themselves from an anonymity set that includes addresses associated with illegal activities. This means that the privacy of the user is protected, and they have the option to assist regulators in identifying illicit funds without disclosing their entire transaction history.

With Privacy Pools, users can choose not to share an anonymity set with someone just because they deposited into the same smart contract, as it is up to the individual to decide.

The developer believes that Privacy Pools will enable the crypto community to protect against hackers who exploit the anonymity sets of innocent users without needing excessive regulation or compromising on the principles of crypto.

Although Privacy Pools is already available on Optimism, Soleimani stated that the privacy protocol's initial version is still in the experimental phase because the code is not yet finished and it has not been audited. Nonetheless, he is confident that he is near completion and the release of the final version.

Soleimani hopes that on-chain forensics platforms, such as Chainlaysis and TRM Labs, will help advance the Privacy Pools protocol by conducting tracebacks on deposits. This would eliminate the need for Privacy Pool users to manually create their own exclusion lists.

Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash