Tornado Cash, which helped North Korea launder money, sees price increase after sanctions lifted

15% increase even after three days

On the 21st, the U.S. Department of the Treasury lifted sanctions on 'Tornado Cash'. Previously, the Biden administration had imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash, accusing it of helping launder over $7 billion for North Korea and other cyber hackers.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control had placed Tornado Cash on the 'blacklist' in 2022, claiming it was assisting in laundering cybercrime proceeds, including more than $455 million stolen by the North Korean government-backed hacking group Lazarus. Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency 'mixer' that anonymizes transactions.

However, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced in a statement that it decided to lift the sanctions considering the evolving technological and legal environment. The Treasury also emphasized that despite this lifting, it will not lower its guard against North Korea's cryptocurrency laundering. This is interpreted as being due to the Trump administration's push for pro-cryptocurrency policies.

Following this news, Tornado Cash surged by 75% on the 21st. It is still soaring by more than 15%. As of 7 a.m. on the 24th, Tornado Cash is trading at $13.77, up 15.42% from 24 hours ago, according to the cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap.

Reporter Subin Park, Hankyung.com waterbean@hankyung.com