U.S. Treasury Department To Allow Tornado Cash Users To Complete Transactions and Withdraw Crypto

The U.S. Treasury Department has updated its policy on Ethereum-based crypto mixing service Tornado Cash.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed the ban on August 8th arguing that the protocol facilitated money laundering and terrorism.

The move from OFAC effectively suspended transactions leaving users unable to withdraw their funds. 

In a new statement, the Treasury Department says that affected persons may now be able to file a special licensing request from the OFAC to complete their pending transactions and get their crypto assets back.

“U.S. persons should be prepared to provide, at a minimum, all relevant information regarding these transactions with Tornado Cash, including the wallet addresses for the remitter and beneficiary, transaction hashes, the date and time of the transaction(s), as well as the amount(s) of virtual currency.

OFAC would have a favorable licensing policy towards such applications, provided that the transaction did not involve other sanctionable conduct.”

The option applies to funds deposited prior to Tornado Cash’s inclusion in the OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, or the SDN List.

In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota says that despite the illicit use of Tornado Cash, law-abiding people also use the service to protect the privacy of their financial transactions.

Crypto advocacy group Coin Center is also looking at challenging the OFAC in court as it argues that Tornado Cash is not something that can be added to the SDN list.

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