Silk Road

Tornado Cash

Tornado

President Donald Trump

Donald Trump

A federal court in the U.S. has removed sanctions over Tornado Cash, a popular cryptocurrency mixer, signaling a new era for the decentralized entity infamous for its popular use among hackers and other anti-social elements.
According to reports, the US ‘fifth circuit court of appeals’ on January 21 has repealed sanctions placed on Tornado Cash by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a financial intelligence agency under the US treasury department under the Biden government.
The order stated, “It is ordered and adjudged that the judgement of the district court is reversed, and the cause is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals District Court for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion of this court.“
Tornado Cash’s native token TORN grew 212% from $8.08 to $25.28 after the decision. Tornado Cash’s token value rose after this ruling and now trades at $18.6 but investors see the outcome as proof decentralization and privacy technologies will succeed.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="sequence-of-events">Sequence of events&nbsp;</h2>
In August 2022, OFAC had applied sanctions on cryptocurrency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, which has been accused of allegedly facilitating crypto laundering for the infamous Lazarus Hackers group from North Korea that stole digital assets worth above $455 million in 2024 itself.&nbsp;&nbsp;
In 2023, officials charged and arrested Roman Storm as the <a href="https://www.blockhead.co/2025/01/23/tornado-cash-sanctions-reversed-in-landmark-ruling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tornado Cash</a> co-founder for money laundering and breaking sanctions restrictions. He has refuted the allegations, claiming violation of his first amendment rights. Additionally, authorities had also charged co-founder Alexy Pertsev and arrested developer Virgil Griffith for their involvement in the Tornado cash project.
 In November 2023, the federal court found that OFAC’s definition of property under the sanction was flawed. In its decision, the court explained that the permanent smart contracts used in Tornado cash fail to fit property requirements due to their lack of standard ownership or contractual value. As such, the sanctions were deemed unlawful. In November 2024, A Federal appeals court ruled that US sanctions imposed on the platform should be lifted.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="ethereum-s-vitalik-bats-for-team-tornado-cash">Ethereum’s Vitalik bats for Team Tornado Cash</h2>
Ethereum’s co-founder<a href="https://www.cryptotimes.io/2022/08/09/vitalik-buterin-admits-using-tornado-cash-for-ukraine-donations/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Vitalik Buterin</a> strongly supports the release of arrested Tornado Cash founders and developers and has also sought the intervention of President Donald Trump who recently pardoned Ross Ubricht, the founder of Silk Road website. Through his post on X (Formerly Twitter )&nbsp;Buterin declared “No man left behind” before requesting action to save Storm and Pertsev from detention.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
 Also Read: <a href="https://www.cryptotimes.io/2024/09/26/wazirx-hack-are-rs-2000-cr-laundered-using-tornado-cash-traceable/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">WazirX Hack: Are Rs.2000 Cr Laundered Using Tornado Cash Traceable?</a>
</blockquote>

U.S. Federal Court removes sanctions against Tornado Cash

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The Crypto Times

Other articles published on Jan 23, 2025

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