"The chief selling point of Tornado Cash is money laundering, which is in and of itself a crime in both the US and Netherlands."
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of US law with regard to money laundering. Obfuscating the source of funds, by itself, is not money laundering. Money laundering requires a "predicate offense" - the money that is being laundered must be proven to have had an illicit source. Further, the entity accused of doing the "laundering" also must know that the source of funds is illicit before doing it. Intent to promote the carrying on of "specified unlawful activity" must also be proven in order for a money laundering conviction to occur. You can read the entire statute here [1].
Therefore, the "chief selling point" cannot be money laundering, at least under US law, because the contracts were deployed with no prior knowledge of how or by whom they would be used. One cannot form intent without prior knowledge. The chief selling point was anonymity, not money laundering, which has a highly specific legal meaning.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of US law with regard to money laundering. Obfuscating the source of funds, by itself, is not money laundering. Money laundering requires a "predicate offense" - the money that is being laundered must be proven to have had an illicit source. Further, the entity accused of doing the "laundering" also must know that the source of funds is illicit before doing it. Intent to promote the carrying on of "specified unlawful activity" must also be proven in order for a money laundering conviction to occur. You can read the entire statute here [1].
Therefore, the "chief selling point" cannot be money laundering, at least under US law, because the contracts were deployed with no prior knowledge of how or by whom they would be used. One cannot form intent without prior knowledge. The chief selling point was anonymity, not money laundering, which has a highly specific legal meaning.
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1956