A long-running legal battle between crypto advocacy group Coin Center and the U.S. Treasury Department over sanctions imposed on crypto mixer Tornado Cash has finally come to a close.
On June 7, Coin Center’s research director, Peter Van Valkenburgh, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the end of the fight, following the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ official dismissal of the case.
“This is the official end to our court battle over the statutory authority behind the TC sanctions. The government was not interested in moving forward and defending their dangerously overbroad interpretation of sanctions laws,” Van Valkenburgh wrote.
The legal challenge stemmed from the Treasury’s decision in 2022 to sanction Tornado Cash, alleging it was used to facilitate illegal activities, including money laundering tied to North Korea’s notorious Lazarus hacking group.
Coin Center argued that the Treasury’s actions infringed on constitutional rights, particularly the First Amendment. However, in November 2023, a district court ruled against Coin Center, finding that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had acted within its legal authority when it blacklisted the crypto mixer.
Earlier this year, however, a Texas court ordered OFAC to rescind its sanctions on Tornado Cash, changing the course of the legal landscape. The government opted not to appeal that decision, prompting the Eleventh Circuit to dismiss the Coin Center case as no longer necessary.
“The government’s view is that OFAC’s rescission of the designation moots this appeal. Plaintiffs’ view is that this appeal will become moot after the Texas judgment becomes final and unappealable,” the court explained.
Despite the end of this particular legal battle, Tornado Cash and its developers remain embroiled in legal troubles.
Roman Storm, one of Tornado Cash’s co-founders, is set to go on trial next week after being indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly helping facilitate illicit financial transactions through the platform. Storm has repeatedly maintained his innocence, insisting that neither he nor his fellow developers knowingly enabled criminal use of Tornado Cash.
Meanwhile, fellow co-founder Alexey Pertsev was convicted in May 2024 on similar charges and sentenced to 64 months in prison. He’s been released from custody but remains under electronic monitoring and house arrest. The third Tornado Cash developer, Roman Semenov, also named in the DOJ’s indictment, remains at large and has evaded authorities since the initial crackdown.
Though Coin Center’s fight with the Treasury has ended, the broader saga around Tornado Cash continues to unfold, highlighting the complex intersection between crypto technology, privacy, and regulatory enforcement.
