Is the US Treasury in its right when it prohibits any association with the Tornado Cash protocol, even for legal uses? No, believes an American lobbying group, CoinCenter. The latter is suing the American institution, fearing that this type of practice will become commonplace. Update on the subject.
US Treasury prosecuted over Tornado Cash case
Yesterday, we learned that the exchange platform Bittrex had to pay a fine of 53 million dollars to two sub-departments of the American Treasury. Today, the opposite is happening: the think tank CoinCenter has decided to take the institution to court. The reason ? He believes that the Treasury abused its rights by prohibiting the use of Tornado Cash.
CoinCenter Executive Director Jerry Brito announced the move on Twitter. It is in particular the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) who is the subject of this complaint:
1/ Today Coin Center filed suit in federal district court against OFAC challenging its authority to sanction Tornado Cash immutable smart contracts.
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) October 12, 2022
CoinCenter believes that OFAC did not have sufficient authority to sanction smart contracts associated with Tornado Cash. According to the group, the risk would be that the practice is extended to entire protocols:
“We are not only fighting for the right to privacy, but also against the fact that if this precedent is set, OFAC could add entire protocols like Bitcoin or Ethereum to its sanctions list in the future. This would ban them immediately without the process involving the public in any way. »
👉 Follow the Tales of Monte-Crypto to return to the Tornado Cash case
The No. 1 exchange in the world – Regulated in France
10% off your fees with code SVULQ98B 🔥
Has the Treasury gone too far?
It is actually the major question raised by the Tornado Cash case. Is it fair that privacy-conscious users are cut off from such services, because these can also be used by malicious people? The questioning of course affects a broader field than that of cryptocurrencies.
CoinCenter counts anyway fight to preserve these privacy options, and go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. The group sees the right to anonymity as essential, and the implementation of global sanctions as a mistake:
“Privacy is normal, and when we win our case, using Tornado Cash will become normal again. »
This new business is in any case particularly symbolic. As regulators increasingly surround the cryptocurrency ecosystem with rules, the question of privacy arises. A particularly telling example is MiCA in Europe: service providers will soon be forced to report the vast majority of transactions they process.
However, the ideology of cryptocurrencies is largely based on an evolution of this thinking, which of course conflicts with large institutions such as the Treasury. Coming years should therefore make it possible to lay down extremely important milestones within the ecosystem.
👉 To read on the same subject – The European Parliament approves the MiCA and TFR regulations
Join Experts and a Premium Community
PRO
Invest in your crypto knowledge for the next bullrun
Source: Jerry Brito via Twitter
Newsletter 🍞
Receive a summary of crypto news every Monday by email 👌
What you need to know about affiliate links. This page presents assets, products or services relating to investments. Some links in this article are affiliated. This means that if you buy a product or register on a site from this article, our partner pays us a commission. This allows us to continue to offer you original and useful content. There is no impact on you and you can even get a bonus by using our links.
Investments in cryptocurrencies are risky. Cryptoast is not responsible for the quality of the products or services presented on this page and could not be held responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused following the use of a good or service highlighted in this article. Investments related to crypto-assets are risky by nature, readers should do their own research before taking any action and only invest within the limits of their financial capabilities. This article does not constitute investment advice.
Journalist at Cryptoast, I fell into the pot of cryptocurrencies a few years ago. I am passionate about the innovative technologies that stem from the blockchain and I like to find the most crispy information to share with you.
Marine Debelloir
2149 items
