Tornado Cash Case Sparks Controversy: US Treasury Department's Regulatory Transparency Questioned
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department removed the smart contracts of Tornado Cash from the sanctions list in March, but the protocol's developer Roman Semenov still faces sanctions because North Korean hackers previously exploited the protocol.
This kind of "vicarious liability" not only sets a dangerous precedent for the market but also intensifies public skepticism about the fairness and transparency of regulations.
It is worth noting that OFAC specifically emphasized that the lifting of contract sanctions was a voluntary decision rather than compliance with a court ruling, a statement that suggests regulators are attempting to retain maximum discretion.
In fact, the Treasury is adopting a "technical response" strategy: on one hand, it limits court rulings to the narrow category of "immutable contracts," while on the other hand, it continues to assert its sanctioning authority over mutable agreements and their developers. This maneuver places the entire DeFi industry, particularly privacy protocol developers, in a position of greater uncertainty.
However, the regulatory dilemma reflected in this case is far more complex than it appears on the surface. When regulators demand that developers anticipate and mitigate all potential uses of their code under the pretext of national security, it essentially undermines the foundational principle of technological neutrality.
Even more concerning is the fact that OFAC has yet to provide clear standards for the distinction between "development activities" and "criminal assistance," which turns open-source code contributions into a game of legal chance.
The final ruling of the local court is still pending, but regardless of the outcome, this case has already had a profound impact on the crypto ecosystem. Many privacy protocol developers should begin reassessing the legal risks of their projects, with some teams even considering a complete shift to anonymous development models.
This regulatory tug-of-war not only concerns the survival of a protocol but also redefines the boundaries between technological innovation and compliance in the digital age.
Therefore, in this collision between technological evolution and regulatory frameworks, how to balance privacy protection with crime prevention remains an urgent issue to be addressed in our time.
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