The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions against “interacting” with the open-source code of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash would not be considered a violation, according to the US Department of the Treasury, provided specific conditions are considered.
The government department claims that copying the mixer’s code, making it available online, or publishing it in another way would not be against sanctions for US citizens.
US Treasury clarifies Tornado Cash violation of sanctions
The Treasury Department explained several concerns previously expressed by numerous US-based crypto users about the controversial mixer Tornado Cash in guidance posted to its frequently asked questions pages on Tuesday.
“U.S. persons would not be prohibited by U.S. sanctions regulations from visiting the Internet archives for the Tornado Cash historical website, nor would they be prohibited from visiting the Tornado Cash website if it again becomes active on the Internet,” the Treasury Department noted.
Before sanctions were put in place on Aug. 8, those who started transactions using the mixer could apply for an OFAC license to finish them or withdraw their funds.
Users were allowed to engage with the mixer’s code generally as long as they didn’t involve any banned transactions, according to the Treasury.
Blurred lines
The apparent confusion surrounding the US sanctions and how companies were supposed to be in compliance came when numerous platforms removed or restricted the activity of Tornado Cash-related individuals.
Others have attempted to use the US legal system to push back against the Treasury Department’s actions. On Sept. 8, Coinbase said that it would back a lawsuit filed by Tornado Cash customers against the Treasury Department, saying that the department unjustly sanctioned the crypto mixer’s smart contract addresses.
Meanwhile, Roman Semenov, one of the mixer’s co-founders, revealed on Aug. 8 that his account had been suspended at developer network GitHub. At the time, he made the comment that he might have contributed to the issue due to his interactions with Tornado Cash’s code.