Partners Kenneth Nunnenkamp, Giovanna Cinelli, Andrew Ray, Ryan McCarthy, and associate Eli Rymland-Kelly co-authored a Law360 Expert Analysis article discussing a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which held that immutable smart contracts on the Tornado Cash crypto-transaction software protocol are not “property” subject to the sanctions jurisdiction asserted by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The authors review the facts of the case and the court’s holding, which relied on the US Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. They also analyze the implications of the decision for the cryptocurrency industry.