Why Justin Sun Was Blocked From This Ethereum DeFi Protocol

Diplomat and founder of the TRON network, Justin Sun, confirmed that one of his addresses was blocked from using the Ethereum decentralize finance (DeFi) protocol Aave. Via Twitter, Sun claimed that he received 0.1 ETH from Tornado Cash leading to his address being added and blocked by the protocol.

Justin Sun was just one of many well-known personalities in the crypto industry, and outside the space, that received funds from Tornado Cash. Over the past week, high-profile individuals have been sent funds from the Ethereum decentralized exchange following the sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Justin Sun, Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano, CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, and TV personality Jimmy Fallon received 0.1 ETH seemingly as a form of protest against the sanctions. The measures taken by the U.S. Treasury have set a dangerous precedent, according to privacy, crypto, and technology advocates.

As Bitcoinist reported, Tornado Cash was added to the Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Person List (SDN). A mechanism used to punish terrorists, and other dangerous individuals, not tools or technologies, as stated by Jerry Brito, Executive Director at Coin Center.

Aave and other Ethereum DeFi protocols implemented a mechanism to block certain addresses from interacting with their platforms. The mechanism was created in collaboration with compliance firm TRM Labs to lock out entities suspected of violating the U.S. imposed financial sanctions.

Year Finance core developer “Banteg” shared a timestamp list with more data on when these protocols implemented their “address screening feature”, a tool that many consider a violation of the users’ privacy. The list is comprised of decentralized exchange Uniswap, lending protocol Balancer, Aave, and others.

when defi apps started snitching on you, with links

2021-10-25 uniswap