The Blockchain Association supports the removal of Tornado Cash sanctions

The Blockchain Association has filed new support from six plaintiffs over the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ban on crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

In the year In a Nov. 20 amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the crypto advocacy group argued that OFAC's decision to approve the Privacy Protocol was not only illegal, it exceeded its statutory authority and was both “arbitrary and capricious” — contrary to the U.S. Constitution.

It's the second amicus brief filed by the Blockchain Association, a group of Tornado Cash users appealing a lower court ruling that upheld OFAC's decision to include cryptocurrency miners on a list of sanctioned entities.

Today, regarding OFAC's sanctions against Tornado Cash in Van Loon v. We filed a brief on Treasury's 5th Criminal Appeal.

Read Senior Advisor @MTCoppel's series below for more. pic.twitter.com/e9ySvcKdeM

— Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) November 20, 2023

Marisa Koppel, senior adviser to the Blockchain Association, said in a statement on November 20 that Ofco has no mandate and emphasized that it should focus on banning bad actors.

“OFAC needs to see Tornado Cash for what it is: a tool that can be used by anyone,” Koppel said. “Instead of approving tools with legitimate purposes, OFAC should focus on bad actors who misuse these tools.”

“OFAC's action sets a dangerous new precedent that exceeds its authority and threatens the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans.”

In short, the Blockchain Association suggested that OFAC should act within the law by seeking authorization from Congress to ban crypto mixers like Tornado Cash.

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“The real solution is to seek legislation from Congress that grants more authority in the specific context of decentralized digital assets — not to unduly stretch existing authorities,” he said.

“This kind of power hack is a slippery slope that can threaten all sorts of Internet-based devices that were previously available for free.”

The Blockchain Association has long maintained that Tornado Cash has no owner or operator and can operate automatically without human intervention or assistance.

5/ OFAC's jurisdiction only extends to people or property…and Tornado Cash software does not.

No owner. No operator. It works independently. And unchanging.

— Marisa Tashman Coppel (@MTCoppel) November 20, 2023

Ofco first sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022. Individuals and groups have used it to launder more than $7 billion in currencies since 2019, including $455 million stolen from the North Korean-linked Lazarus group.

Crypto exchange Coinbase has supported the issue, promised

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