Are there limits to the reach of US Sanctions laws?
summary
OFAC designated Tornado Cash Aug 2022 and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York bring conspiracy and sanctions-related charges against its developers, arguing immutable pools are sanctionable property. The claim rests on treating immutable smart contracts as property and on broad aiding or inducing liability that could reach validators, miners, and front ends. Coin Center sues in the 11th Circuit and related suits in the 5th press statutory and First Amendment limits; outcomes decide whether neutral infrastructure becomes felony exposure.
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chapters (17)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:11Legal context
- 3:19Sanctions laws background
- 6:05Statutory and constitutional limits
- 10:01Sanctions enforcement and Tornado Cash
- 13:11Compliance obligations
- 17:03Sanctions vs Swift and financial rails
- 19:34Legal challenges and lawsuits
- 21:23Criminal liability for developers
- 23:13Second crypto war and risks
- 24:41Software liability limits
- 26:30Compliant privacy tools risks
- 27:32Conspiracy charges breadth
- 28:00Q&A
- 31:10Q&A: Sanctions risks
- 32:55Q&A: Dusting attacks
- 35:00Summary
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