The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in August 2022, effectively barring U.S. persons and firms operating in the United States from engaging in financial interactions with Tornado Cash

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Both parties agreed that the appeal is “moot,” given the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s decision to remove economic sanctions against Tornado Cash in March. The office, a component of the U.S. Treasury department, blacklisted Tornado Cash in 2022.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, effectively barring people in the U.S. and firms looking to operate in the U.S. from engaging in financial interactions with it. A U.S. federal appeals court later said that the department had overstepped its authority in doing so.

In 2022, OFAC added multiple wallet addresses connected to Tornado Cash to its list of sanctioned entities. Coin Center filed a lawsuit alleging that the Treasury Department “exceeded [its] statutory authority” in the sanctions, though there were other lawsuits filed by interested parties, including one from six Tornado Cash users backed by crypto exchange Coinbase.