US Government Withdraws Appeal in Tornado Cash Case, Sanctions Lifted
The United States government has officially withdrawn its appeal in the lawsuit related to Tornado Cash and removed this crypto mixer protocol from the OFAC sanctions list in March 2025. This decision is a major victory for crypto user privacy and technological freedom, as the court determined that the Tornado Cash smart contracts are open-source code that cannot be sanctioned as "property" by the government.
Tornado Cash was previously sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in 2022 over allegations of facilitating money laundering worth over $7 billion, including funds stolen by the Lazarus hacking group from North Korea. The founders of Tornado Cash, such as Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, face criminal charges of money laundering and operating a business without a license, but their legal cases are still ongoing in court.
Following the lifting of the sanctions, the TORN token surged by more than 70%, signaling positive market sentiment towards the privacy and DeFi sector. Nevertheless, the legal case against the founders continues, with an important hearing scheduled to take place in New York.
This decision reaffirms the limits of government authority in regulating decentralized blockchain technology and opens new opportunities for the development of a more private and secure crypto ecosystem.