A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Treasury Department's sanctions against the crypto mixer Tornado Cash were unlawful and an overreach of authority.

The decision answers the controversial debate over whether the crypto-mixing service, which anonymizes transactions, can be banned for its use by criminals.

A federal appellate court ruled that privacy tools built on the Ethereum blockchain, known as Tornado Cash, cannot be subject to the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department. Why it matters: The ruling advances cryptocurrency law by finding that certain kinds of smart contracts are not property.

The U.S. Treasury Department acted outside its authority when it sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in 2022 and accused it of helping launder over $7 billion for North Korean hackers and other malicious cyber actors,

The US Federal appeals court ruled that the US Treasury overstepped its authority by putting sanctions on crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

The price of TORN soared over 418% after a federal court ruled that sanctions on Tornado Cash must be abandoned.

A U.S. Appeals Court has ruled that Tornado Cash can't be blocked in the country and the Treasury Department's OFAC committed overreach when it sanctioned the crypto mixing tool.

The crypto sector has registered another big win after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruled on Tuesday that the Treasury overstepped by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts. The court ruled that the autonomous software cannot be classified as property.