TORN, the native token of beleaguered crypto mixer Tornado Cash, enjoyed a brief renaissance over the last two days following news that a court had overturned sanctions imposed on the platform by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Initially trading around the $9.50 level on January 22, the token skyrocketed 140% to break beyond $25 as speculators reacted to the news. At press time, the asset has lost some value and is down to $17.
Victory for Tornado Cash
Tornado Cash’s legal woes started in August 2022 when OFAC designated it as a sanctioned entity, claiming the Lazarus Group, a criminal organization linked to the North Korean regime, had used the platform to launder stolen cryptocurrencies worth more than $455 million.
Subsequently, one of its developers, Alex Pertsev, was arrested in The Netherlands, charged with money laundering, found guilty , and sentenced to five years in prison.
The mixer’s co-founder, Roman Storm, was also arrested in August 2023 and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. With his trial scheduled for April 14, 2025, he has publicly defended himself, claiming he is being prosecuted for writing open-source code.
However, following the judgment against Tornado Cash, six individuals led by crypto advocate Joseph van Loon sued the U.S. Treasury, OFAC, then-Secretary Janet Yellen, and OFAC Director Andrea Gacki, accusing them of overreach.
Loon and his fellow plaintiffs argued that there were no grounds for sanctioning the crypto mixer because it was software rather than a person or entity. Their view was supported by an appellate court in November 2024. It ruled that the immutable nature of the service’s smart contracts meant it could not be defined as “property,” a concept in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that OFAC had used to justify its sanctioning of Tornado Cash.
According to the court, the lines of codes making up the smart contracts could not be subjected to ownership or control since they operated autonomously without human intervention, thus falling outside the purview of the IEEPA.
The latest determination upholds the November judgment, which the government agencies had sought to be reheard. However, it does not impact the criminal case against Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov, who remains at large.
Market Reacts
While the value of the TORN token skyrocketed in the aftermath of the court’s decision, it has since cooled down, going from a high of $25.28, per data from CoinGecko to $17.00.
However, its current price is still 122% higher than a week ago and an 88% improvement over 30 days. The coin has a market capitalization north of $68 million, and its recent performance puts it vastly ahead of the broader crypto market, which is up a mere 1.8%.
