The U.S. Treasury has removed sanctions against Ethereum coin mixing service in the latest Biden-era reversal, though the developers' legal battles continue.
Another Biden-era anti-crypto enforcement move has fallen. On Friday, the U.S. Treasury announced that it has removed Tornado Cash—an Ethereum mixing service used to obscure coin movements—from the list of parties sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, reversing a decision from 2022.
Tornado Cash was blacklisted due to foreign actors, including North Korea, allegedly using the service to launder billions of dollars’ worth of stolen funds. However, the sanctions were deeply controversial among crypto advocates, as Tornado Cash is powered entirely by smart contracts with no humans involved in the transactions.
Friday’s shift comes alongside a flurry of other moves from the Trump administration, including the SEC dumping many of its cases against crypto firms. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the sanctions lift as a decision aimed at allowing innovation while still seeking to thwart illegal activity.
But the “fight is not over” for Tornado Cash, as Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh wrote on X, with developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm still engaged in legal battles related to the mixing service. Crypto industry efforts to fund and ultimately free the developers remain ongoing.
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🎓️ LEARN: What Are Coin Mixers and How Do They Work?
Coin mixers like Tornado Cash have faced sanctions for aiding money laundering, but advocates argue they have legitimate use cases.
