Tornado Cash

Tornado

A federal appeals court has ruled that US sanctions imposed on <a href="https://www.blockhead.co/tag/tornado-cash/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tornado Cash</a> must be lifted.The ruling challenges the Treasury Department&#39;s use of <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0916?ref&#61;blockhead.co" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">sanctions</a> to target technology that anonymizes crypto transactions and reverses an August district court ruling that labelled Tornado Cash a “notorious” crypto-mixing tool and upheld the government&#39;s stance against its service.The Treasury claimed that Tornado Cash facilitates illicit activities, such as money laundering by groups like North Korea&#39;s Lazarus Group. However, the Court of Appeals found that its smart contracts are not property of any foreign national.&#34;Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts (the lines of privacy-enabling software code) are not the &#39;property&#39; of a foreign national or entity,&#34; the Court of Appeals declared, stating the Treasury&#39;s Office of Foreign Assets Control &#34;overstepped its congressionally defined authority.&#34;These smart contracts fall outside the scope of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law under which the Treasury&#39;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the service.The court determined that OFAC had exceeded its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash.&#34;We readily recognize the real-world downsides of certain uncontrollable technology falling outside of OFAC’s sanctioning authority,&#34; the judges said. &#34;But we must uphold the statutory bargain struck (or mis-struck) by Congress, not tinker with it.&#34;Paul Grewal, Coinbase&#39;s chief legal officer, celebrated the decision as a “historic win for crypto” on X.&#34;These smart contracts must now be removed from the sanctions list and U.S. persons will once again be allowed to use this privacy-protecting protocol,&#34; Grewal said. &#34;Put another way, the government’s overreach will not stand.&#34;Tornado Cash&#39;s TORN token surged more than 500% following the ruling to as high as $40.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/b86e1caede574bfb957122fffffc72f2.png" />However, Tornado Cash developer <a href="https://www.blockhead.co/tag/roman-storm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Roman Storm</a> will proceed to trial in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) case against him.District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) denied Storm&#39;s dismissal appeal of the charges against him.Storm was charged in August 2023 alongside fellow Tornado Cash developer, Roman Semonov, for their work on the crypto mixer: conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Powers Act.The court&#39;s ruling against the sanctions should nonetheless impact Strom&#39;s case. &#34;This is hugely good news for anyone developing privacy software and will likely have a positive impact on Roman Storm&#39;s trial, where it is debated whether the court may criminally charge the developers of software,&#34; explained one X user.Storm himself tweeted, &#34;My fight is not over yet, and I still lack resources&#34; following the court&#39;s decision.<a href="https://www.blockhead.co/2024/11/27/tornado-cash-upturns-500-as-us-court-overturns-sanctions/#/portal/signup/free" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Join Blockhead today for FREE and stay in the loop on digital assets!</a>

Tornado Cash Upturns 500% as US Court Overturns Sanctions

Blockhead

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