Tornado Cash: Sanctions Dropped, Frontend Still Compromised
Big news in the crypto world today! The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has taken Tornado Cash, the crypto mixer, off its sanctions list.
According to a statement from the US Treasury Department, the decision to remove sanctions on Tornado Cash came after a review of “novel legal and policy issues.” These issues were brought up in response to the initial sanctions, particularly concerning financial activity “occurring within evolving technology and legal environments.”
However, the Treasury emphasizes that they “remain deeply concerned” about ongoing state-sponsored hacking and money laundering campaigns. Their primary concern is the theft, acquisition, and deployment of digital assets by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Kim regime.
Want to dive deeper? Read: Tornado Cash funds ‘at risk’ after hacker injects malicious code
In fact, not only was the Tornado Cash website removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List, but so were numerous crypto addresses linked to the project. It’s important to note though, that sanctions against Tornado Cash founder Roman Semenov are still in place.
However, crypto investigator ZachXBT issued a warning for anyone considering using Tornado Cash: “the main frontend is still compromised.” He reminds us that just last year, hackers injected malicious code into Tornado Cash’s user interfaces, enabling them to steal deposited funds.
This decision to remove sanctions comes after US courts recently found that the US Treasury had overstepped its authority when initially imposing restrictions on Tornado Cash. Back in 2022, when the US first sanctioned the mixer, they alleged that a staggering $7 billion had been laundered through it.
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