The US District Court for the Western District of Texas has overturned the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on crypto-mixing protocol Tornado Cash.
A Jan. 21 filing from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered OFAC to remove Tornado Cash-linked addresses from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list.
Tornado Cash is a decentralized protocol that lets users deposit assets into shared pools. It enhances privacy by enabling untraceable withdrawals.
While the platform gained traction for its privacy features, it attracted scrutiny after being misused by bad actors, including North Korea’s Lazarus Group, to launder stolen crypto. OFAC imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash in 2022, citing its role in facilitating illicit activities.
This ruling challenges the legal grounds for sanctioning immutable blockchain technology and sets a precedent for how crypto protocols are treated under existing US laws.
The ruling
The court’s decision emphasized that Tornado Cash’s smart contracts—immutable pieces of code on the blockchain—are not property in the legal sense. These contracts, created through a “trusted setup ceremony,” cannot be owned, controlled, or altered.
The ruling noted that this unchangeable nature ensures the software operates independently of any entity, making it impossible to restrict access, even for sanctioned individuals or groups.
According to the court, because the smart contracts are autonomous and accessible to anyone, sanctioning the protocol does not block bad actors from using it.
The filing stated:
“The software continues to operate regardless of the sanctions, and the blockchain technology ‘allows peer-to-peer transfers…without requiring the recipient to consent to transfer,’ some users may become liable whenever someone transfers them digital assets via Tornado Cash, even without their knowledge or consent.”
Moreover, the court suggested that Congress update laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to address modern innovations such as crypto-mixing protocols. Until then, tools like Tornado Cash that operate autonomously cannot be restricted under the current legal framework.
Furthermore, the ruling highlighted that OFAC’s actions exceeded its legal authority, as the Treasury Department cannot create new laws or reinterpret existing ones to fit evolving technologies.
The judges wrote:
“We decline the Department’s invitation to judicial lawmaking-revising Congress’s handiwork under the guise of interpreting it. Legislating is Congress’s job— and Congress’s alone.”
Crypto community celebrates
The ruling was enthusiastically received by privacy advocates and blockchain enthusiasts. Many see it as a step forward for decentralization and financial freedom.
Antoni Zolciak, a privacy-focused blockchain builder, celebrated the decision as a victory for on-chain privacy, while others noted its importance in defending user rights in decentralized ecosystems.
0x0 exchange, a privacy-focused crypto trading platform, said:
“This reaffirms the importance of protecting financial freedom and user rights in Web3. Privacy is not a privilege—it’s a fundamental right.”
On the other hand, Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, urged the US government to avoid further attempts at challenging the ruling. He wrote:
“While a certiorari petition to the Supreme Court separate from any appeal may be filed before February 24, we urge the government to move on and drop any last ditch effort. Every day of personal privacy matters.”
Meanwhile, the market also reacted positively to the development, with the platform’s TORN token surging by nearly 200% to reach a two-month high of $25.24 before settling at $21.35, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
Moreover, other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, including Monero, Zcash, Mina, and Horizen, also experienced significant price increases of over 5% during the reporting period.
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