Sanctions

The Coin Center lawsuit, first filed in 2022, noted that one plaintiff used Tornado Cash to protect his identity while donating money.

Coin Center is appealing an earlier ruling by the United States district court for Northern Florida, which held that Tornado Cash creates indirect benefits for foreign individuals and entities that can be defined as a financial interest subject to sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Legal counsel for Coin Center Jeffrey S. Hetzel told the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, “The easiest way to resolve this case is to hold that in our plaintiffs’ transactions, there is no foreign property. The district court had to erase the word property from the statute.” Hetzel continued the argument:

Attorneys for the United States government countered Hetzel by maintaining that price appreciation of the Tornado Cash token, TORN, directly benefitted TORN holders and asserted that withdrawal fees were a form of accrued benefits for the protocol’s founders.

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