Tornado Cash sold crypto “privacy”; the US saw “money laundering.” A jury isn’t sure what to think.

"Crypto mixers" exist because of a peculiar feature of cryptocurrencies—most are fully traceable using their public blockchain ledgers. To provide more privacy to crypto account owners, a mixer will let people toss their crypto into a large pool, where it is "mixed" with other people's crypto. At a later date, each crypto owner can choose to withdraw their money from the pool into a new, anonymous wallet, thus making the movement of the crypto harder to track. Of course, the obfuscation doesn't work well if the blockchain shows 1,231.7 BTC...