Tornado Cash Case Victory: Court Blocks Treasury Sanctions Permanently

In a landmark ruling, a U.S. federal court has permanently barred the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from reimposing sanctions on Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing service. Judge Robert Pitman issued this decision on April 28th, potentially setting precedent for how open-source crypto protocols can be held accountable for their code’s application. The case revolves around Tornado Cash’s alleged role in facilitating North Korean hacker group Lazarus’ cryptocurrency laundering activities. However, the platform challenged the sanctions, arguing that developers shouldn’t be penalized for users’ actions when employing their tools.