Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency privacy protocol that uses smart-contract pools and zero-knowledge proofs to obscure the relationship between deposits and withdrawals. Its documentation describes deposits from one address and withdrawals to another without publicly identifying the matching deposit. Its sanctions history and criminal cases against developers concern different legal questions.123

How the pools workReport an errorSuggest an improvement

In the Classic design, depositing creates a private note and a public commitment recorded in a pool's Merkle tree. A withdrawal uses a zero-knowledge proof to demonstrate entitlement without revealing which deposit it spends. A public nullifier hash prevents the same entitlement from being used twice.1

Privacy also depends on the surrounding activity. The project's documentation identifies pool participation, timing, and withdrawal-fee payment as relevant factors. A relayer can submit a withdrawal and pay its gas, reducing the need to fund the receiving address from a linked account. The cryptographic proof alone therefore does not guarantee that observers cannot infer a relationship between transactions.1

TORN is an ERC-20-compatible governance token. The project's token documentation describes holders making proposals and voting. Governance participation is separate from proving ownership of a deposit in a Classic privacy pool.41

US sanctions and the civil challengeReport an errorSuggest an improvement

OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022, citing illicit use, including laundering associated with North Korean hackers. Users challenged whether the agency's statutory authority extended to its immutable contracts. On 26 November 2024, the Fifth Circuit held in Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury that the immutable contracts at issue were not property subject to blocking under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.2

Treasury announced removal of the economic sanctions against Tornado Cash on 21 March 2025. That delisting addressed the sanctions designation; it was not an acquittal of developers in separate criminal proceedings.53

Criminal proceedingsReport an errorSuggest an improvement

On 6 August 2025, a US jury convicted co-founder Roman Storm of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, according to the Justice Department. Jurors did not reach verdicts on the money-laundering and sanctions-conspiracy counts. Storm sought acquittal, arguing that prosecutors had not proved he intended to help criminals misuse the software.36

As of 31 October 2026, the retrial is scheduled for 26 April 2027 under Judge Katherine Polk Failla's 25 August 2026 order. The order cited Storm's pending acquittal motion and the need for time to consider post-trial motions and prepare. The unresolved counts should not be described as convictions.7

In the Netherlands, a court convicted developer Alexey Pertsev of money laundering on 14 May 2024 and imposed a 64-month prison sentence. He appealed; The Block reported the filing after confirmation from a court spokesperson. In October 2026, Decrypt reported that he had been released to electronic monitoring pending appeal. This was a separate prosecution under Dutch law, not the US sanctions challenge.8910

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ReferencesReport an errorSuggest an improvement

  1. ^ a b c d Tornado Cash documentation. How Does Tornado Cash Work? https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tornadocash/docs/en/general/how-does-tornado.cash-work.md 

  2. ^ a b US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (2024-11-26). Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury, No. 23-50669. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca5-23-50669/pdf/USCOURTS-ca5-23-50669-0.pdf 

  3. ^ a b c US Department of Justice (2025-08-06). Founder Of Tornado Cash Crypto Mixing Service Convicted Of Knowingly Transmitting Criminal Proceeds. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founder-tornado-cash-crypto-mixing-service-convicted-knowingly-transmitting-criminal 

  4. ^ Tornado Cash documentation. TORN. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tornadocash/docs/en/general/torn.md 

  5. ^ US Treasury (2025-03-21). Tornado Cash Delisting. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0057 

  6. ^ Reguerra, E. (2026-08-26). Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's retrial delayed to April 2027. Cointelegraph. https://cointelegraph.com/news/roman-storm-retrial-delayed-april-2027 

  7. ^ US District Court, Southern District of New York (2026-08-25). United States v. Storm, No. 23 Cr. 430, docket 300, order. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.604938/gov.uscourts.nysd.604938.300.0.pdf 

  8. ^ Anti Money Laundering Centre (2024-06-13). Ontwikkelaar van Cryptomixer Tornado Cash veroordeeld voor witwassen, discussing ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2024:2069. https://www.amlc.nl/ontwikkelaar-van-cryptomixer-tornado-cash-veroordeeld-voor-witwassen/ 

  9. ^ The Block (2024-05-16). Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev appeals conviction. https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2024-05-16-tornado-cash-alexey-pertsev-appeals-conviction-294906 

  10. ^ Decrypt (2026-10-07). Prosecutors Cite Bitcoin Fog Ruling Against Roman Storm's Venue Challenge. https://decrypt.co/380260/prosecutors-cite-bitcoin-fog-ruling-against-roman-storms-venue-challenge