With regard to transaction tracing in particular, Tornado Cash seeks to address a variety of privacy and anonymity concerns in the cryptosphere. In August 2019, Tornado Cash v1 was released as an experimental piece of software. Over time, it developed into a fully decentralized, non-custodial system that allows for private transactions.

The Ethereum network's smart contracts are used by Tornado Cash. The on-chain link between the sender and recipient's addresses is broken by the protocol in order to provide this level of secrecy. This technology's use is frequently described as a "decentralized mixer." The immutable nature of the protocol ensures that users of it have the maximum level of privacy because nobody, not even the creators, can alter or tamper with any transactions.