Crypto Exchange Targets Treasury Sanctions in National Security Clash

Source: Washington Post

Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, is bankrolling a lawsuit against the Treasury Department challenging its decision to sanction a program that allowed North Korean hackers and other illicit actors to launder billions of dollars’ worth of digital tokens.

It is a potentially risky move that thrusts Coinbase — a publicly traded company that has seen its stock drop by 73 percent this year amid a broader downturn in the crypto market — into a fraught national security debate. The U.S. government has said stolen crypto is a primary source of money for North Korea’s nuclear program.

Crypto interests, however, were outraged by Treasury’s targeting of the “crypto mixer” Tornado Cash, which helps disguise the origin of cryptocurrency. They criticized the decision last month as an unprecedented assault on computer code and a potential violation of the Constitution’s free speech protections. At least one group, the crypto think tank Coin Center, threatened legal action.