Crypto mixer Tornado Cash just flipped the script on the Treasury—and privacy coins are reaping the rewards.
Tornado Cash’s native token, TORN, soared to highs of almost $35 Tuesday morning, after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruled that immutable smart contractssmart contracts cannot be classified as “property” under existing law.
At time of publication, TORN has pulled back from its local high to trade at $17.17—up 382.9% on the day, per CoinGecko data.
The court's landmark decision struck a blow to the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions authority, triggering a market-wide rally in privacy-focused cryptos. Railgun (RAIL) surged 36.6% to $0.98, Zcash (ZEC) climbed 26.5% to $56.92, Beam (BEAM) increased 19.8% to $0.069, and DASH jumped by 11.4% to $35.79, according to CoinGecko data.
The ruling overturned a lower court’s decision, stating that Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts—autonomous lines of code that execute without human intervention—are not “property” and thus fall outside the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
It also emphasized that immutable smart contracts cannot be owned or controlled, making them exempt from property-based sanctions.
This directly challenges the Treasury’s August 2022 designation of Tornado Cash, which alleged the protocol facilitated over $7 billion in illicit transactions, including funds tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruled Tuesday that the Treasury overstepped by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts, stating the autonomous software cannot be classified as property.
The Fifth Circuit held that when smart contracts are immutable—meaning no entity can modify or control them—they cannot be classified as "property" subject to sanctions under existing law.
The decision reverses a lower court ruling and marks a significant win for privacy advocates and blockchain develop...
"Privacy wins."
Crypto leaders have hailed the ruling as a pivotal moment for the space, with Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at advocacy group Coin Center, praising the legal clarity provided by the decision. “Immutable smart contracts are not property of any kind and therefore can’t be sanctioned,” Van Valkenburgh wrote on Twitter.
The ruling’s impact was amplified on social media, where crypto leaders celebrated the court’s acknowledgment of decentralized technology.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted that, “Privacy wins," adding that, the verdict was an “historic win for crypto and all who care about defending liberty.”
Privacy wins. Today the Fifth Circuit held that @USTreasury’s sanctions against Tornado Cash smart contracts are unlawful. This is a historic win for crypto and all who cares about defending liberty. @coinbase is proud to have helped lead this important challenge. 1/6
Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adam tweeted, “Immutable smart contracts just beat the Treasury Department in court. Incredible to see the degree to which crypto is killing it in federal courts.”
For now, privacy coins are enjoying their moment in the spotlight—an indicator of how closely the crypto market ties itself to legal and regulatory outcomes.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
It's been one year since Bitcoin had its quadrennial halving event, which usually sends the price soaring.
But while it's true that Bitcoin rose to an all-time high in the months following the latest halving in April 2024, the percentage spike has not been nearly as sizable as in past cycles.
Data provider Kaiko told Decrypt that though the biggest coin's price is indeed up, macroeconomic factors have hindered it from making the same kind of gains.
In the report, Kaiko said that at recent level...
Another day, another crypto ETF filing. This time, a crypto asset manager is trying its luck with a fund that, if approved, would give investors exposure to Near Protocol.
A Thursday filing in the State of Delaware shows that paperwork to launch a NEAR ETF has been filed by Bitwise.
Filing with the State of Delaware is the first step in getting such a product approved. The asset manager still has to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission to get the process officially moving.
Near Pr...
Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies. This week: Twenty One Capital makes a huge Bitcoin operating company splash, CME is entering the XRP futures chat, and investors show love for a little-known company that’s started buying Solana.
Nineteen, Twenty, …
There’s a lot of fuss being made over Twenty One Capital, a new Bitcoin treasury company involving $146 billion stablecoin issuer Tether, crypto exchange Bitfinex, and Wall Street giant...