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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 7, Coin Center\u2019s research director, Peter Van Valkenburgh, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the end of the fight, following the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals\u2019 official dismissal of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d Van Valkenburgh wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legal challenge stemmed from the Treasury\u2019s decision in 2022 to sanction Tornado Cash, alleging it was used to facilitate illegal activities, including money laundering tied to North Korea\u2019s notorious Lazarus hacking group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coin Center argued that the Treasury\u2019s actions infringed on constitutional rights, particularly the First Amendment. However, in November 2023, a district court ruled against Coin Center, finding that the Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had acted within its legal authority when it blacklisted the crypto mixer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government\u2019s view is that OFAC\u2019s rescission of the designation moots this appeal. Plaintiffs\u2019 view is that this appeal will become moot after the Texas judgment becomes final and unappealable,\u201d the court explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the end of this particular legal battle, Tornado Cash and its developers remain embroiled in legal troubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roman Storm, one of Tornado Cash\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, fellow co-founder Alexey Pertsev was convicted in May 2024 on similar charges and sentenced to 64 months in prison. He\u2019s been released from custody but remains under electronic monitoring and house arrest. The third Tornado Cash developer, Roman Semenov, also named in the DOJ\u2019s indictment, remains at large and has evaded authorities since the initial crackdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Coin Center\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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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\u2019s research director, Peter Van Valkenburgh, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the end of the fight, following the Eleventh Circuit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,70],"tags":[1379,505,425],"class_list":["post-9932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto-news","category-finance","tag-coin-center","tag-tornado-cash","tag-u-s"],"yoast_head":"\n