Coinbase Backs Plaintiffs to Lift Ban on Tornado Cash
Coinbase is supporting a group of plaintiffs who are seeking to remove sanctions imposed by the US government against Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer.
The plaintiffs, including Joseph Van Loon and Tyler Al-meida, are representing US citizens who are prohibited from using Tornado Cash. They have filed a lawsuit against the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and OFAC Director Andrea Gacki.
The plaintiffs seek a partial summary judgment at the United States District Court of Texas, Austin Division, arguing that the sanctions on Tornado Cash are unlawful and violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
OFAC added Tornado Cash to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN) List in August 2022, prohibiting US citizens or businesses from doing business with them.
The lawsuit argues that the government cannot sanction Tornado Cash because it is just software, and smart contracts at its core cannot be controlled or owned by anyone.
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Coinbase has supported the plaintiffs, stating that the government’s actions could hinder the growth and development of the cryptocurrency industry and set a dangerous precedent for future cryptocurrency regulation.
The use of privacy protocols like Tornado Cash is becoming increasingly important for individuals who want to protect their privacy online, and the legal challenge could have significant implications for the future of cryptocurrency regulation in the United States.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
