OpenSea accused of blocking users for using Tornado Cash

The non-fungible token platform OpenSea has begun blocking users for interacting with the mixer Tornado Cash. This was reported by journalist Colin Wu.

According to him, he had not used the marketplace for several months, and on August 20 he discovered his account blocked. In support, OpenSea explained the decision as a violation of OFAC sanctions.

Wu examined X (formerly Twitter) for similar problems among other users and found that the blocking on the platform may be related to the use of Tornado Cash.

The journalist noted that the investigation is still ongoing, and that the restrictions are driven by OpenSea’s “proactive and stringent control policy”.

ForkLog requested comments from the marketplace’s representatives, but at the time of writing had not received a response.

In August 2022 OFAC added to the sanctions list Tornado Cash, a site which, according to the agency, criminals laundered more than $7 billion. More than $455 million of that total were linked to the Lazarus Group’s activities.

On 12 August, Dutch authorities arrested the developer Alexey Pertsev on suspicion of involvement in laundering funds and concealing criminal financial flows. He denied all charges.

In April 2023 the court changed Pertsev’s measure of detention to home detention.

In August, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two Tornado Cash co-founders — Roman Storm and Roman Semenov — with money laundering and sanctions violations.

The FBI detained Storm. He was soon released on bail.