Crypto-focused policy think tank Coin Center has announced that it is prepping to challenge Tornado Cash sanctions imposed by the US Treasury.
In a blog post released yesterday, Coin Center’s executive director Jerry Brito and director of research Peter Van Valkenburgh said, “By treating autonomous code as a ‘person’ OFAC exceeds its statutory authority.”
They alleged that the OFAC “overstepped its legal authority” when it added Tornado Cash and 44 associated wallet addresses to its list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) on August 8.
Read Also: Why did U.S. OFAC Sanction Tornado Cash?
They further wrote that the Treasury’s actions could have potentially violated U.S. residents’ “constitutional rights to due process and free speech.”
Since the Treasury’s sanctions target smart contracts, Coin Center argues that a smart contract cannot challenge a designation from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in court.
They wrote, “This action sends a signal—indeed seems to have been intended to send a signal—that a certain class of tools and software should not be used by Americans even for entirely legitimate purposes.”
Coin Center says that first, it intends to engage the OFAC as well as brief interested parties of Congress.
The group will also help people whose funds are trapped on the 44 sanctioned wallet addresses.
Lastly, Coin Center announced that it began ‘exploring with counsel a court challenge to this action,’ indicating legal action.
