When US crypto regulators cracked down on Tornado Cash in 2022, the assumption was simple: shut down the tool, shut down the problem. It didn’t work out that way.

New research from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) shows that coin mixer usage has climbed back toward pre-ban levels — and that the people most effectively pushed out by the sanctions were not the criminals, but ordinary users seeking financial privacy.

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According to CCAF researchers Wenbin Wu and Keith Bear, total crypto mixer transactions reached approximately 32,000 in 2025 — a significant jump from roughly 21,000 in 2024 and 16,000 in 2023.

Usage has been climbing steadily since the US Treasury lifted its…