The controversial virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash’s code returns to GitHub following a month’s unavailability.
Last month, after the US OFAC announced sanctions against Tornado Cash, GitHub disabled associated accounts, including the account of Roman Semenov, co-founder of Tornado Cash.
Then last week, the Treasury Dept allowed users to recover Tornado Cash funds, and individuals who deposited funds into Tornado Cash prior to August 8 could apply for an OFAC license to “engage in transactions involving the subject virtual currency”.
Following this, Ethereum core developer Preston Vanloon urged GitHub to lift the ban on Tornado Cash as the Treasury’s announcement stated that “U.S. persons would not be prohibited by U.S. sanctions regulations from copying the open-source code and making it available online for others to view.”
After the code ban lift, Vanloon tweeted, “It looks like everything is in “read-only” mode, but that progress from an outright ban.”
Since August 24, an unofficial archive of Tornado Cash’s code has been available on GitHub. Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, built the archive.
Tornado Cash addresses continue to be sanctioned, but users can still access the site owing to its decentralized structure.
Also Read: Why did U.S. OFAC Sanction Tornado Cash?
