U.S. Treasury overstepping authority in Tornado Cash sanction, says advocacy group Coin Center
The U.S. Treasury may have overstepped its legal authority by sanctioning cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, said crypto advocacy group Coin Center.
See related article: Circle freezes smart contract addresses linked to blacklisted Tornado Cash
Fast facts
- Coin Center will work with other advocates to seek administrative relief, according to a blog post on Tuesday.
- Blog authors argued that Tornado Cash is an unattended and self-executing “application” on Ethereum, not a person, entity or property that can be sanctioned by the Treasury Department.
- The blog also highlighted the Fifth Amendment and accused the U.S. Treasury of violating Constitutional rights to “due process and free speech.”
- Some crypto wallets belonging to celebrities were banned after the sanctions were announced, as the wallets received 0.1 ETH sent to them anonymously via Tornado Cash.
- On Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group founded more than three decades ago, announced that it was joining the pool of opposition in the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanction on Tornado Cash.
See related article: Ronin hack proceeds seen headed to Tornado Cash
