On March 21, the US Treasury Department announced that it has removed cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash from its sanctions list.

This decision comes after a US appeals court ruling in January, which determined that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) does not have the authority to sanction Tornado Cash’s smart contracts. The court concluded that these contracts aren’t considered the “property” of any foreign individual or entity.

The court's decision declared, "Tornado Cash's immutable smart contracts—essentially privacy-focused lines of software code—do not qualify as the 'property' of a foreign national or organization." As a result, OFAC exceeded the limits of its congressionally granted powers.”

Following this, the Treasury confirmed on March 21 that OFAC has removed several dozen Ethereum smart contract addresses associated with Tornado Cash from its sanctions list.

The news sparked a surge in Tornado Cash’s native token, TORN, which jumped by about 60%, according to CoinMarketCap data. As of March 21, TORN’s market cap stands at roughly $73 million, with its fully diluted valuation (FDV) approaching $140 million.

OFAC is the Treasury’s agency responsible for enforcing economic and trade sanctions targeting foreign countries and individuals.

This development has generated significant discussion within the cryptocurrency community, raising complex questions about privacy, regulatory oversight, and the nature of decentralized technologies. The removal of Tornado Cash from the blacklist marks a significant moment in the ongoing legal and regulatory debates surrounding cryptocurrency.