- The US Treasury removed Tornado Cash addresses from its OFAC sanctions list on Friday.
- The decision could help Tornado Cash founders in their legal battle with the DOJ.
- TORN rallied 73% following the announcement.
TORN catapulted past 70% on Friday following news of the United States (US) Treasury removing crypto mixer Tornado Cash from its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanction list.
Tornado Cash addresses removed from US sanctions list
The US Treasury Department’s OFAC removed crypto mixer Tornado Cash from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.
According to an update on the OFAC official website, Tornado Cash addresses have been deleted from the SDN list, removing any ban on the protocol in the US.
“We have exercised our discretion to remove the economic sanctions against Tornado Cash as reflected in Treasury’s Monday filing in Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury,” the US Treasury said in a press release on Friday.
However, the Treasury remains concerned about the money laundering schemes related to the North Korean hackers Lazarus Group.
Tornado Cash was initially sanctioned by OFAC in 2022, banning US citizens from engaging in services provided by the platform. The US Treasury alleged that the platform has helped hackers facilitate the laundering of over $7 billion in digital assets since its inception in 2019. This included funds stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group and other hackers.
Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were indicted by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2023 for facilitating over $1 billion in crypto transactions connected to the Lazarus Group.
In May 2024, a Dutch court found Alexey Pertsev — another Tornado Cash co-founder — guilty of laundering approximately $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency. Pertsev was sentenced to sixty four months in prison.
The US Treasury Department’s decision to delist Tornado Cash from its blacklist could significantly impact the legal cases of the mixing platform’s founders against the DOJ.
The agency’s move is also seen as a big win for privacy tokens and the DeFi sector, as it reflects a better environment for crypto privacy in the US.
TORN quickly skyrocketed following the announcement, jumping over 70% to reclaim the $15 price. It also stretched its weekly gains over 100%, leading the privacy token sector.
It’s important to note that the surge in TORN also stems from its small market capitalization of $57 million. Hence, small buy orders could quickly move its price.
Meanwhile, Tornado Cash’s removal from the OFAC sanction list could trigger a rally in the privacy tokens sector in the coming days.
