Tornado Cash token grows by 250% after sanctions against crypto mixer are lifted

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled to lift sanctions against crypto mixer Tornado Cash, finding that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority. The decision is based on the conclusion that Tornado Cash’s smart contracts, which operate autonomously and without the possibility of control by the developers, do not constitute «property» subject to sanctions under the International Economic Property Act (IEEPA).

The lawsuit was initiated by six Tornado Cash users who claimed that the sanctions unfairly affected law-abiding citizens. For example, one of the plaintiffs used the protocol to anonymously support Ukraine for fear of cyberattacks, and another to protect private data from intruders.

Amid this news, the Tornado Cash (TORN) token grew in value by 250%, rising from $ 8 to $ 27. Later, the price stabilized at $ 18.

Earlier, Ethereum co-founder Бутерін" href="https://noworries.news/biography/vitalij-buterin/" data-bio-id="3642″ data-wpel-link="internal">Vitalik Buterin donated 50 ETH to support the developers of the Tornado Cash project. This initiative is aimed at helping the team, which faced difficulties after the US Treasury Department’s sanctions in August 2022. The donation was made to the Tornado Cash Defense Fund, an initiative created to finance the legal defense of the developers.

Tornado Cash is a decentralized service that allows users to hide transactions on the Ethereum network by mixing coins. After the service was added to the US sanctions list, its creators were accused of facilitating money laundering. According to the US authorities, billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency was laundered through Tornado Cash, including the amounts attributed to the Lazarus hacker group from North Korea.