According to Golden Finance, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling on the Tornado Cash case on Wednesday sparked widespread optimism, with decentralized protocols and privacy-focused tokens on Ethereum seeing sharp increases. On Tuesday, the court ruled that immutable smart contracts are not property and cannot be sanctioned under current law, marking what some observers claim is a major victory for privacy advocates.
“While the ruling does not constitute money laundering, it sets a precedent that allows programmers to develop and release smart contract protocols without fear of sanctions, provided they do not charge fees,” 10X Research said in a note to investors on Wednesday. “The move could also provide more clarity to developers about what they can build without falling under regulatory scrutiny, especially on Ethereum, where most decentralized applications are built.”
