Congressman Tom Emmer requests a response from Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen for the Tornado Cash sanctions. “The technology is neutral and the expectation of privacy is normal,” Emmer wrote on Twitter today. His support for the privacy-focused altcoin project has caused the price to jump.
Congressman seeks Treasury answers on impact of Tornado Cash sanctions
Tom Emmer targeted OFAC in a letter posted on Twitter in early August. He also criticized the decision to blacklist Tornado Cash as a sanctioned asset. The Treasury says Tornado Cash, an agitator that helps hide transaction details, has laundered more than $7 billion in virtual currency since its founding in 2019. As you follow on Kriptokoin.com, the US Treasury Department completely banned Americans from using Tornado Cash after a while. Emmer said on Twitter today that restricting Tornado Cash will definitely create new challenges for OFAC.
I sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen regarding the unprecedented sanctioning of Tornado Cash. The growing adoption of decentralized technology will certainly raise new challenges for OFAC. Nonetheless, technology is neutral and the expectation of privacy is normal.⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0aN4a4A6tb
— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) August 23, 2022
Along with a series of questions demanding clarification of the agency’s actions, Emmer noted:
But these sanctions are unique because they are not applied against an individual or an organization, but against code that ‘enables privacy’.
Emmer’s concerns reflected many of the points he brought up the cryptocurrency market following sanctions that first targeted a smart contract address. Emmer is the co-chairman of the Congress Blockchain Group. He also has a long history as an advocate for the crypto industry.
Tom Emmer requests more details on sanction against altcoin project
Emmer shared the letter publicly on Twitter today:
How OFAC plans to support the appeals process for sanctioned addresses that do not have the ability to appeal the sanction to OFAC, because the addresses are smart contracts without agency and cannot speak for themselves. Given that the Tornado Cash protocol will operate unchanged as an anonymizing technology as long as the Ethereum network continues to function, who or what entity did OFAC believe was reasonably responsible for applying control to the Tornado Cash Blockchain contracts?
Emmer poses several questions to OFAC, such as which OFAC entity he believes should impose controls on Tornado Cash contracts, how US users can retrieve funds that are currently locked in the mixer, what the recipients should do, and whether the funds are locked into Tornado Cash. He also asked how Tornado addresses could object to their designation given that they are not individuals or organizations.
The letter reflects comments made by the broader crypto market, who see sanctions as a major concern.
Altcoin market comments positively
However, their statements stating that the technology is neutral and privacy is normal had a positive impact on the TORN price. The price recovered slightly today after losing more than 70% in 2 weeks.
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