The U.S. Treasury Department acted outside its authority when it sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in 2022 and accused it of helping launder over $7 billion for North Korean hackers and other malicious cyber actors,

A federal appellate court ruled that privacy tools built on the Ethereum blockchain, known as Tornado Cash, cannot be subject to the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department. Why it matters: The ruling advances cryptocurrency law by finding that certain kinds of smart contracts are not property.

The crypto sector has registered another big win after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruled on Tuesday that the Treasury overstepped by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts. The court ruled that the autonomous software cannot be classified as property.