Alleged developer of Tornado Cash arrested in the Netherlands

[chushpan]

Tornado Cash has had its sanctions lifted.

The United States has lifted sanctions against the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. This decision was made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, affirming the lower court's decision announced back in November 2024.

"It is ordered and decreed that the judgment of the district court is reversed and the case is remanded to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for further proceedings consistent with the opinion of this court," the decision, which lifts sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department, reads.

Against the backdrop of the decision, the TORN token associated with the crypto mixer rose by 212 percent (to $25).

Sanctions against the platform were introduced in August 2022. At that time, the founders of Tornado Cash were accused of assisting in the laundering of $7 billion, of which $455 million allegedly belonged to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. Three Russians were involved in the crypto mixer case. Alexey Pertsev was sentenced by a Dutch court in May 2024 to 5 years and 4 months in prison. One of his associates, Roman Storm, is awaiting the court's decision at large, and the American authorities have not yet been able to find Roman Semenov.