US removes sanctions against Tornado Cash crypto mixer
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced today that it has removed sanctions against Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer used by North Korean Lazarus hackers to launder hundreds of millions stolen in multiple crypto heists.
The Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 for helping launder over $7 billion since its creation in 2019.
However, a Monday court filing linked in today’s press release shows that a Fifth Circuit U.S. federal appeals court ruled on November 26, 2024, that OFAC “overstepped its congressionally defined authority” when it sanctioned the crypto mixer.
As OFAC said when it added Tornado Cash to its Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons…
