Tornado Cash was the preferred ‘laundering tool’ for most NFT scammers before it was sanctioned by the US Treasury, says Elliptic

• Tornado Cash was the "laundering tool of choice" for 52% of NFT scammers, Elliptic Enterprises wrote in a report. 
• Tornado Cash was the source of $137.6 million of cryptoassets processed by NFT marketplaces. 
• The Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control sanctioned the platform this month as North Korea and others leveraged it for asset laundering. 

Bad actors turned to Tornado Cash as their preferred tool for laundering cryptocurrency proceeds from non-fungible token scams, research firm Elliptic Enterprises wrote in a Wednesday report. 

The platform "was the source of $137.6 million of cryptoassets processed by NFT marketplaces and the laundering tool of choice for 52% of NFT scam proceeds" before the US hit it with sanctions earlier this month, Elliptic said.

Attempts to contact Tornado Cash for comment were unsuccessful.

Mixer platforms like Tornado can help disguise funds by mixing tokens of various origins then transferring them. Crypto mixers were responsible for laundering $328.6 million in illicit funds over the past five years, according to the Elliptic report. 

Earlier this month, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Tornado Cash, prohibiting any Americans or US entities from using it. 

And according to TRM Labs, North Korea in particular has laundered roughly $1 billion in stolen assets through Tornado Cash, which was also used during the Axie Infinity hack in March. 

Meanwhile, shortly after the sanctions hit, Dutch police arrested a suspected developer behind Tornado Cash, and more arrests may loom.