US Treasury removes Tornado Cash addresses from blacklist, maintains sanctions on developer

Source: Crypto Briefing

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Tornado Cash, the prominent crypto mixing service, from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, while maintaining sanctions on one of its founders, Roman Semenov. The Department of Treasury announced the removal in a press release on Friday.

The delisting follows a November 26, 2024 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which found that OFAC exceeded its authority by designating Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts. The court determined these self-executing codes don’t qualify as “property” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The Treasury Department announced its intent to remove Tornado Cash from the SDN List on March 18, 2025, with the delisting finalized by March 21, 2025.

OFAC also modified the designation for Semenov, who remains sanctioned. His listing no longer carries the cyber-enabled activities tag but maintains the North Korea-related designation.

The original sanctions were implemented in August 2022 after authorities alleged Tornado Cash was used to launder over $7 billion in crypto assets, including funds stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

The platform reportedly facilitated the laundering of over $455 million from the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack, $96 million from the Harmony Bridge heist, and $7.8 million from the Nomad heist.

Despite the platform’s delisting, Tornado Cash founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov continue to face legal challenges. They were charged in August 2023 with money laundering and sanctions violations related to the platform’s operations.

This is a developing story. We’ll update as we learn more.

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Author: Vivian Nguyen