BREAKING: Tornado Cash Dodges a Sanction Storm, for Now!

Well, well, well… It looks like Tornado Cash just waltzed its way out of the sanction drama, at least for now! A Texas district court decided on Monday that the U.S. Treasury Department can’t sanction it again. Nice try, Treasury. Nice try. 🤑

Flashback to 2022: The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) slammed Tornado Cash with sanctions, calling it a tool for money laundering. Classic move, right? Sanction first, ask questions later. But not everyone was on board with this. Critics said OFAC was acting like a kid who wasn’t allowed to have dessert—taking their frustrations out on the smart contracts that run on the blockchain. How dare they. 🍰

Fast forward to the legal drama that followed. A federal appeals court stepped in and said, “Uh, nope, OFAC—you can’t just go after some software without actually having the power to do so.” Oops. Talk about an awkward moment. 🙄

So, March 2024 rolls around, and OFAC decides to take Tornado Cash off the sanctions list. BUT, instead of owning up to the fact that they were forced to do it by the court, they tried to play it cool and claim it was all part of a “policy decision.” Yeah, okay, sure. 👀 The plaintiffs (aka Tornado Cash users) weren’t buying that excuse, though. They accused OFAC of trying to save face by backing down at the last second. Not very slick. 🤔

Enter Judge Robert Pitman. He made it clear that this issue is far from over, siding with the plaintiffs that OFAC’s actions were illegal. He slapped down a permanent prohibition on OFAC from sanctioning Tornado Cash unless they come up with a brand-new legal excuse. Oh, and he also made it clear that they can’t just keep the door open for future sanctions. Sorry, OFAC, but no. 🚪🚫

Meanwhile, the DOJ’s got its eyes on the two developers of Tornado Cash—Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. These guys were charged in 2023 with helping to launder money, running an unlicensed money service, and, of course, breaking U.S. sanctions. Semenov is still on the U.S. sanctions list, because why not keep the drama going? 💼

In a plot twist this month, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told DOJ staff to start focusing on crypto cases more narrowly—no more chasing after exchanges, mixers, or wallets unless users are doing something *really* suspicious. Finally, a little common sense? Investigations not following these new guidelines are supposed to be dropped. So, you know, it’s like the DOJ just realized they’ve been chasing ghosts. 👻

This change has already started to influence other cases, like the one against the creators of Samourai Wallet. Attorneys are now asking for more time to figure out if they should dismiss charges based on this new policy. Ah, the sweet smell of a policy shift. 😏

Crypto enthusiasts and legal defenders are now calling on President Donald Trump to end what they call the “crackdown on open-source software.” These developers are just trying to build privacy tools, people. Let them code in peace. 🤖

2025-04-29 23:34

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