In a big legal win for the cryptocurrency industry, a U.S. appeals court has overturned sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department on popular cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado Cash, causing the price of the associated coin to zoom 430%.
What Happened: A three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court in New Orleans on Tuesday concluded that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had exceeded its authority, reversing a lower court’s decision and granting a partial summary judgment in favor of Tornado Cash users.
The judges ruled that Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts do not qualify as property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—a federal law that grants sweeping powers to the president to control economic transactions—as they cannot be owned or controlled.
“We hold that Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts (the lines of privacy-enabling software code) are not the “property” of a foreign national or entity, meaning (1) they cannot be blocked under IEEPA, and (2) OFAC overstepped its congressionally defined authority,” Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the judgment.
The Treasury Department didn’t immediately return Benzinga’s request for comment.
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