The Wild Ride of Tornado Cash: When Uncle Sam Throws in the Towel 🎩💨

by

Well now, a federal appeals court done granted a joint motion to dismiss the hullabaloo, shutin’ the book on a tussle that had folks wonderin’ just how far the government could stretch its long arm when pokin’ around blockchain technology.

This whole kerfuffle was kicked off just last week at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where Coin Center took a stand against the Treasury’s 2022 blacklistin’ of Tornado Cash—a privacy contraption built on Ethereum, mind you. That little sanction slapped down by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) basically told every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the U.S. to steer clear or face the music.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, the head honcho over at Coin Center, chimed in Monday, sayin’ the government threw in the towel, not willin’ to defend what he called a mightily broad stretch of the sanctions law. Guess sometimes even big ol’ bureaucracies know when they’re beat.

The real twist came earlier this year when OFAC yanked that Tornado Cash label, weak’nin’ the Treasury’s legal stance faster than a cat can lick its ear. The government claimed this made Coin Center’s appeal about as useful as a screen door on a submarine, but the advocates weren’t ready to call it quits till a related showdown down in Texas had its say.

Though the courtroom drama’s over—for now—this tale leaves behind a big ol’ question mark about how far financial regulators can reach into these decentralized wild frontiers. It’s a showdown that’s still settin’ up, with regulators and crypto cowboys tusslin’ over just how private folks get to be in this brave new digital West.

Read More

2025-07-08 16:10