Tornado Cash Token Soars as U.S. Lifts OFAC Sanctions

Tornado Cash, a non-custodial and decentralized crypto mixing protocol, has been removed from the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanction list, sending the protocol's native TORN token soaring 35%.

The protocol was targeted by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in August 2022, when the agency claimed Tornado was used to launder over $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency, with nearly half a billion allegedly laundered by North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group.

TORN has been on the rise since shortly after the United States presidential election in November. The token was trading at $2.1 pre-election and rallied 470% from $3.5 to $20 on Nov. 27 when a U.S. court overturned the sanctions.

The token is up another 36% today to $11.56, or a $45 million market capitalization, as the Tornado websites and associated Ethereum addresses were removed from the sanctions list.

Venture investor Balaji Srinivasan celebrated the moment on X and called for legal justice for Tornado Cash’s developers, Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, who are still serving prison sentences associated with money laundering.

“Privacy wins. Tornado Cash is legal. Now Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev should be immediately freed, pardoned, and reimbursed by the state for their invalid prosecution,” said Balaji.