In what’s being hailed as a ‘landmark’ determination by the crypto trade, a US courtroom has reversed sanctions levied towards Twister Money. The controversial crypto mixer is a Web3 platform that permits folks to shuffle their crypto tokens with another token from a collective pool of digital currencies. This provides extra privateness to crypto transactions, making them troublesome to be tracked or traced. The US Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) levied sanctions towards Twister Money in 2022 for enabling cash launderers to maneuver unlawful funds and evade regulation enforcement businesses.
On January 21, the US District Court docket for the Western District of Texas reversed OFAC’s sanctions towards Twister Money. An attraction was filed by six customers of Twister Money towards OFAC’s motion that has led to this courtroom ruling. “It’s ordered and adjudged that the judgment of the district courtroom is reversed, and the trigger is remanded to the district courtroom for additional proceedings in accordance with the opinion of this courtroom,” the ruling mentioned.
The OFAC reportedly alleged that Twister Money was utilized by infamous North Korean hackers to launder funds amounting over $455 million (roughly Rs. 3,844 crore) which they acquired from crypto thefts and hacks. The OFAC had claimed that since its launch in 2019, the platform had facilitated the laundering of $7 billion (roughly Rs. 60,509 crore) till 2022.
Between 2022 and 2025, the blacklisting of Twister Money was criticised by the crypto sector, with many arguing that the expertise of good contracts that Twister Money makes use of to facilitate crypto swapping, isn’t its property which makes OFAC’s sanctions inapplicable underneath present legal guidelines.
Alexey Pertsev, one of many three co-founders of Twister Money, was arrested in Netherlands, following OFAC’s sanctions. In Could 2024, he was sentenced to 64 months in jail for cash laundering.
My identify is Roman Storm, and I’m one of many founders of Twister Money, a non-custodial privateness protocol.
I’m being prosecuted for writing open-source code that permits personal crypto transactions in a very non-custodial method. This prosecution represents a terrifying…
— Roman Storm :us: :twister: (@rstormsf) January 22, 2025
Final November, the Fifth Circuit Court docket in New Orleans overturned the 2022 sanctions towards Twister Money. The platform’s co-founder Roman Storm is about to face trial on April 14.
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