On Tuesday, November 28, the court ruled that the immutable smart contract in the Tornado Cash case does not fall under the category of property and cannot be penalized under existing laws. This decision was hailed as a significant victory for privacy advocates. While the ruling does not condone money laundering, it establishes a precedent that allows programmers to develop and publish smart contract protocols without charging fees and without fear of repercussions.
The move could also provide developers with a clearer understanding of what they can build without attracting regulatory attention, particularly in the Ethereum network. Since Ethereum is the primary frontier for decentralized finance (DeFi), the implications of this decision extend to the broader DeFi ecosystem, as well as other protocols operating within the Ethereum network.
This could have a substantial impact on the industry. Balaji Srinivasan, a former chief technology officer of Coinbase and a prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur, expressed his support for the ruling on X, stating, “Privacy won. Smart contracts won. Tornado Cash won. And OFAC lost.”
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<p>The post Tornado Cash: Court Victory for Privacy Advocates and Smart Contracts first appeared on CoinBuzzFeed.</p>
