Direct answer
Tornado Cash appears in public Treasury sanctions context through the August 8, 2022 designation and the March 21, 2025 delisting. Separate DOJ events include charges announced August 23, 2023 and an identified conviction event announced August 6, 2025. In the OFAC SDN CSV publication dated July 29, 2026, the exact name TORNADO CASH had zero matches; that dated exact-name result is not a universal legal conclusion.
Why context matters
Tornado Cash discussions often mix the Treasury designation dated 2022-08-08, DOJ charges announced 2023-08-23, Treasury delisting dated 2025-03-21, and an identified DOJ conviction event announced 2025-08-06. These are separate sanctions and criminal case events. The challenged DOJ article bodies were not treated as newly read evidence; their URLs, titles, and dates are supported by the saved search evidence set.
Source classes
| Source | Boundary |
|---|---|
| Treasury designation | Historical official sanctions context |
| Treasury delisting | Later official statement removing the economic sanctions |
| DOJ charge event | Charges announced 2023-08-23; allegations are not convictions |
| DOJ conviction event | Identified conviction event announced 2025-08-06; do not generalize beyond the case and counts |
| Dated SDN snapshot | TORNADO CASH exact-name count: 0 in the 2026-07-29 publication; exact-name absence is not a universal legal conclusion |
| OFAC guidance | General sanctions compliance context |
| Policy commentary | Public debate context, not controlling authority |
| This page | Background explanation only |
What it does not prove
This page does not decide any reader's legal position, evaluate any transaction, or provide technical instructions. It summarizes public context and source boundaries.
Related reading
Source notes
These sources support public context and terminology. They do not turn this page into legal, financial, sanctions, or compliance advice.
- U.S. Treasury sanctions Tornado Cash - Historical August 8, 2022 designation context; it must be read with the later Treasury delisting release.
- U.S. Treasury: Tornado Cash Delisting - Treasury's March 21, 2025 release states that the economic sanctions against Tornado Cash were removed.
- DOJ charges Tornado Cash founders - DOJ announced charges on August 23, 2023; charges are allegations unless proved in court.
- DOJ reports a Tornado Cash founder conviction event - DOJ announced the identified conviction event on August 6, 2025.
- OFAC SDN CSV publication dated July 29, 2026 - Exact-name matches in the dated publication: BLENDER.IO 1, TORNADO CASH 0, and SINBAD 1.
- OFAC sanctions compliance guidance for the virtual currency industry - Sanctions compliance context and conservative wording boundary.
- Coin Center commentary on Tornado Cash sanctions - Used as a policy-discussion benchmark, not as controlling authority.
- FATF Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators - Baseline taxonomy for risk indicators and public red-flag framing.