Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events; the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume; and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

At the start of the week, Bitcoin showed signs of decoupling from US equities. However, US president Trump's positive remarks about the US-China trade war (which had included a 145% tariff on Chinese goods) triggered a relief rally across markets. As a result, BTC has resumed moving up with US equities. 

This rally has led to a rise in short-tenor implied volatility and a recovery in BTC’s put-call skew, indicating that traders are seeking upside exposure.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Perp open interest rises across the board

Perpetual open interest increased significantly this week across various tokens, especially ETH. Perpetual trading volumes also rose. Notably, Ap 7, 2025 recorded the highest trade volume of the month, following Trump's comment, "Forget markets for a second, we have all the advantages."

BTC option open interest shows a mixed picture; put-call skew in short tenor sends positive signals

President Trump’s recent willingness to negotiate a trade deal with China’s President Xi triggered a relief rally across asset classes, including crypto. Bitcoin had already risen 7% since Apr 21, 2025, prior to Trump's comments. Despite this rally, open interest in puts has outpaced calls, with options volume remaining relatively balanced. 

It's unclear if the demand for puts reflects a hedge against downside risks, or a bet against the upward movement. Meanwhile, perpetual funding rates are providing limited insight into sentiment. However, the recovery of the put-call skew at short tenors indicates that traders are seeking upside exposure to the rally — and are willing to pay for it.

ETH unexpectedly outperforms BTC in this relief rally

ETH's response to the recent crypto market recovery has diverged from previous trends: it outperformed BTC in spot prices, a rarity in past rallies, and open interest in calls exceeds that in puts — opposite to BTC's trend. In addition, ETH call open interest is nearly double that of puts, with calls dominating options volumes. This suggests traders anticipate ETH will reduce its significant underperformance against both BTC and other “ETH killers” like SUI and SOL. Additionally, the spot rally has led to another term structure inversion for ETH.

Advanced

block-scholes-x-bybit-report.jpeg

Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 24, 2025): Put-call skew recovers at short tenors, showing reviving sentiment

Explore all the hottest Bybit events happening during the week of TOKEN2049 Dubai in this article.

It’s that time of year again — TOKEN2049 Dubai is back, and the city is buzzing with excitement. As one of the most anticipated events on the crypto calendar, it’s not just about the main conference; it’s about everything happening around it, too. From side events and workshops to exclusive mixers and demo days, Bybit is showing up in full force this year. Here's your inside look at what to expect during this action-packed week.

The heart of TOKEN2049 Week, TOKEN2049 Dubai promises two full days of future-facing discussions and innovation in the world of crypto. At the center of it all is Bybit’s immersive booth experience, built on the theme 

. It’s not just a theme — it’s a vibe. Picture claw machines, 

If you’re heading to TOKEN2049 Dubai, be sure to drop by the Bybit booth (located at P33) and chat with our extraordinary Bybit team! And don’t miss your chance to grab a gacha token by scanning our QR code with Bybit Pay. You could walk away with exclusive Bybit merch! 

DMCC x VARA: Crypto regulations and business growth

Policy meets progress at this exclusive evening event co-hosted by DMCC and VARA. This gathering brings together regulators and industry leaders for an open discussion on the future of digital asset compliance and business growth in the region.

You can expect sharp insights, candid perspectives and forward-thinking dialogue about what it really takes to scale a crypto business in a regulated environment. If you care about the future of web3 in the UAE, this is one event to mark on your calendar.

Bybit After Hours: Exclusive Insights & Networking 

 is a private cocktail evening for top-tier traders and long-time supporters of Bybit. This event is equal parts networking, knowledge sharing and celebration.

 to strategic conversations with the Bybit team, this night is tailored to those who trade big and think bigger. With an invite-only guest list, it’s set to be one of the most exclusive experiences of the week.

The Crypto Hub x Bybit Crypto Ark Demo Day

 is all about bringing hands-on energy to the web3 scene. Hosted at the Crypto Ark inside Bybit’s office, this event welcomes founders, devs and crypto creatives for a casual evening of product showcases, idea exchange and light networking.

While Bybit provides the space, the real spotlight is on the community — those shaping the next wave of innovation in web3.

 from across the CIS region are gathering for a deep dive into the tools, tips and strategies that drive growth at Bybit. This meetup goes beyond surface-level sharing — expect actionable workshops covering our Bybit Affiliate program and affiliate best practices.

It’s also a chance to hear directly from Bybit product leads and regional managers, share success stories and walk away with fresh ideas to maximize conversions. 

Wunderbit x Bybit: “Hey, Trading Bot, where is my profit?”

 are here to stay — and this event is going deep into what makes them tick. Co-hosted by Wunderbit and Bybit, the evening workshop blends honest stories from real traders with expert insights on how to avoid common automation pitfalls.

From bot setups that work to the ones that quietly drain your profits, this is your chance to ask the tough questions, hear unfiltered answers — and maybe rethink how you’re running your own bot strategy.

 (RWAs) are taking center stage at the RWA Gulf Summit, a high-powered event co-hosted by Qatar National Bank, Commercial Bank International and DMZ Finance. This summit brings together bank leaders, wealth funds, participants in DIFC, institutional investors and industry pioneers to explore the evolution of tokenized finance in the Middle East and beyond.

Bybit’s Head of Financial Products Jerry Li will take the stage to discuss how 

 (CEXs) can harness RWAs for enhanced yield and 

Dubai's Pinnacle Mixer: Mantle, Mirana, Bybit and Ethena

High above the city, this mixer brings together some of the biggest names in web3 — Mantle, Mirana, Bybit and Ethena. Expect an unforgettable evening of casual chats, cross-chain connections and cocktails with the minds behind some of today’s most innovative projects.

This private event is all about experiencing Bybit Pay in action. See interactive demos, grab a sneak peek at upcoming partnerships and network over bites and drinks. It’s a rare behind-the-scenes look at the way Bybit is shaping the future of crypto payments. 

Wrapping up the week is the Bybit Institutional Symposium — a full-day event dedicated to aligning strategies with institutional clients and forging new collaborations. From macro views to product deep-dives, this conference is built to spark big conversations among serious players.

The day concludes with a gala dinner, a fitting finale to a week in which ideas, connections and innovation have taken center stage.

Intermediate

Bybit Learn Highlights What to Expect at Bybit

Bybit Learn Highlights What to Expect at Bybit.png

Highlights: What to expect at Bybit (Apr 28–May 2, 2025)

Balance (EPT) is revolutionizing web3 gaming with evolving AI companions, blending blockchain, strategy, and intelligent gameplay in one powerful platform.

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are a key growth area within the blockchain industry. Projects like Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET), 

 (AI16Z) and countless others have been essential components driving the overall crypto market. As of April 2025, the CoinGecko portal lists more than 500 cryptocurrencies within its category of AI Agents. These intelligent assistants are now helping individuals and businesses analyze markets, create textual and visual content, automate work processes and trade profitably.

There's a further area where AI agents on the blockchain are flourishing: the world of 

 gaming. In this sphere, bots and agents based on AI algorithms are helping users develop the best in-game strategies, succeed in the competitive world of play-to-earn (P2E) and overcome key challenges in complex gameplay.

Balance (EPT) is a blockchain gaming project that takes the use of 

 to a completely new level. The creation of the team at the world’s largest social gaming platform, E-Pal, Balance offers players AI agents that can aid them in the in-game environment and serve as their personal companions. Based on a multi-layer architecture, the platform offers some of the most cutting-edge use cases for gaming-oriented AI agents.

 (EPT) is a web3 gaming platform that allows players to easily create, own and use AI companions within the blockchain games it supports.

 Balance supports a variety of first-party (internally developed) and third-party web3 games. You can deploy your AI gaming companions and they’ll act as your assistants, friends or co-players within Balance games.

Using Balance.fun, the platform’s primary web interface, you can create your AI agents and specify various details, such as appearance, personality and functions.

Balance isn’t just another obscure crypto gaming platform. The origins of the project date back to 2020, when the E-Pal social gaming provider was launched by four young California-based technology entrepreneurs — Brian Xiong, Tung Pham, Yuzhe Norris Wang and Yuanzhe Li. E-Pal quickly became a leading force in the newly emerging social gaming field, helping players worldwide find gaming companions. By early 2024, E-Pal had become the world’s largest gaming companion platform, boasting 4.2 million users and 450,000 Epals (gaming companions).

In February 2024, the E-Pal team focused its efforts on 

 and AI technologies, starting the development work on the Balance gaming platform. In September of the same year, Balance went live.

Per the project’s documentation, the platform operates on its own chain, Balance Chain, with 

 (AA) technology used for cross-chain communication. The fungible and 

 (NFTs) held by user accounts are based on the 

A key part of the Balance ecosystem is Key Nodes — purchasable 

 that help with the processing, storage and distribution of data required in the resource-intensive environment of web3 gaming. Some applied instances are the management of real-time leaderboards and the automatic distribution of loot and in-game currency. These nodes can also support the computational requirements of training AI models. As a reward for their work in supporting the platform’s operations, Key Nodes receive a wide range of rewards and benefits, including distributions of EPT tokens, the platform’s native cryptocurrency.

As the ecosystem develops, Key Nodes are envisioned to be involved in governance, 

 launch in September 2024, Balance introduced its Points System, designed to reward early contributors to the platform. During the campaign run in September, users could earn points by completing various specified tasks in various activities, such as joining the project’s social media pages or commenting and reposting.

The 400 users with the best performance in the Points System earned a whitelist spot to receive Pioneer Badge NFTs — distinct tokens that provide owners with early access to games, future campaigns, airdrops and beta testing opportunities. Pioneer Badge NFT holders can also enjoy other benefits, such as premium NFTs and voting rights on the Balance platform.

Balance’s platform provides a set of tools to create and use intelligent companions for Balance-based games. You can design your AI companions by specifying their key traits and behaviors through custom prompts and strategies. The AI agents on Balance can assist you in battles, gaming contests, learning, routine task execution and interactive entertainment.

Balance’s platform is made up of five key layers, each one serving a specific purpose in supporting its user and developer communities. At the top of the architectural stack is the application layer, which acts as the main interface for users to interact with human and AI companions and the wider Balance community.

The application layer also contains the AI Battle Reporting System, which is designed to give users feedback and analysis tools on their performance in the platform’s gaming ecosystem. AI technology is leveraged here to provide personalized analytics and performance improvement recommendations.

A range of NFTs are also part of the layer. These include in-game asset NFTs, as well as 

 (SBTs) that serve as summaries of the holder’s achievements.

The platform layer hosts the various games within the Balance gaming universe. These include both internal games and third-party games that have partnered with Balance. The key concept uniting all of the games is the active integration of AI companions and AI players, making the platform a unique environment in which humans and AI agents play, interact and compete.

The platform layer also features an AI-driven NFT launchpad that offers a rich tool set for creating personalized NFTs for games and applications. These NFTs can be traded on Balance's NFT marketplace, which is also an integral part of the platform layer.

The protocol layer includes a trio of critical protocols — the Fans Protocol, Epal Fan Token (FT) Exchange Protocol and Asset Protocol. The Fans Protocol lets players launch and manage their Fan Tokens, creating opportunities for influencers and community builders to tokenize their efforts and launch high-potential crypto assets. Meanwhile, the Epal FT Exchange Protocol facilitates the management of (and trade in) Fan Tokens.

The third protocol, Asset, is used for the comprehensive management of a wide range of digital assets on Balance, providing easy-to-use tools for asset creation and trading.

The token layer is designed for core operations involving the platform’s native EPT token. This layer supports the use of EPT for in-game purchases, access to services and AI companions, Fan Token minting and trading, in addition to other functionalities.

This is the underlying infrastructural layer that powers the platform’s operational mechanism. It can be described as Balance's operating system, and is made up of several critical components: the node system, the Balance 

, the Balance Chain network and the platform's unique ID system.

The node system provides the computational and storage resources to power games and other functionality on Balance. In addition, the system acts as a key connecting medium between Balance Chain and the AA functionality that lets the platform enjoy cross-chain capabilities.

The Balance stablecoin, also part of the infra layer, is designed to reduce volatility and bring rate stability to the platform's gaming ecosystem. The Balance stablecoin system helps players engage in asset trading without the fear of wild market fluctuations, an important consideration in the 

Designed to support multiple chains, Balance Chain operates based on dynamic protocol adaptation, automatically selecting the optimal blockchain platform according to user preferences and needs. This dynamic adaptability is designed to reduce costs, improve operational speed and enhance overall security for users.

The final major component of the Balance infrastructure layer, the Balance ID system, is a unified and secure user authentication and identity management solution. To be introduced later in 2025, the ID system will let users access all services and games within the Balance ecosystem via a single set of cross-platform decentralized credentials. In addition to human players, also AI companions will have their unique IDs.

EPT is the native cryptocurrency of Balance. Although the platform has been operational since 2024, the EPT token was just launched on Apr 21, 2025, with a total and maximum supply of 10 billion. It was issued on two major blockchains — Ethereum and BNB Chain. EPT has a wide range of functional use cases on the platform, including the following:

The EPT token's supply allocation is per the chart below.

 as a swap pair with USDT, and through the exchange's 

 based on USDT. You can also take advantage of Bybit’s campaign dedicated to the token to grab a share of the 

Under the terms of the event, new users can earn EPT rewards by accumulating a deposit volume of at least 3,000 EPT, or by depositing at least 100 USDT and trading 100 USDT worth of EPT via their first spot trade with Bybit. Meanwhile, existing users can qualify for rewards by trading at least 500 USDT worth of EPT on Spot. The event is valid through May 5, 2025, 9AM UTC.

As of Apr 25, 2025, the EPT token has been on the market for only four days, and is trading at $0.0117, which is 26.4% lower than its ATH of $0.01708 on Apr 21, 2025, and 11.4% higher than its ATL of $0.01129 on Apr 22, 2025.

Long-term price forecasts for EPT are mostly bullish. DigitalCoinPrice 

 of $0.0412 in 2027 and $0.0615 in 2030, whilePricePrediction 

These and other emerging long-term forecasts for the token don't constitute investment advice. Given EPT's extremely short history on the market so far, 

 on the token's future prospects, carefully assess market fluctuations within the crypto gaming niche and consider all other relevant factors before investing in it or any other cryptocurrency.

Capturing emerging market trends and sensing the broader market conditions, the team at E-Pal recognized the tremendous potential of gaming companions back in 2020. Four years later, E-Pal realized that the new market dynamics in gaming called for something even more innovative — the use of AI companions, in addition to fellow humans. The resulting product, the Balance platform, is now racing to stake the claim to the best web3 gaming environment supported by AI agents.

The platform's unique features — cross-chain functionality supported by an AA mechanism, a dynamic exchange system that selects the best network for users' transactions and, most importantly, intelligent AI companions — can certainly help establish Balance as a leader in this niche of web3 gaming.

AI agents are taking the gaming industry by storm, with blockchain technology acting as a powerful enabler of these intelligent friends of ours. The Balance gaming universe — supported by the proven track record of E-Pal — has a great chance of becoming the go-to environment in which to befriend your next artificial gaming partner.

balance ept crypto.png

Balance (EPT): Revolutionizing web3 gaming with evolving AI companions

Mantle has launched the Mantle Index Four (MI4), an institutional-grade fund providing diversified exposure to yield-bearing digital assets. 

The S&P 500 rose 2.03% on strong Alphabet earnings and optimism over a possible Fed rate cut. Gold jumped 1.5% to $3,338 as trade tensions rose and a weaker dollar, along with falling yields, boosted demand. Fed rate cut signals also supported the rally. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, rose 0.74%, with Bitcoin up 0.06% and Ether down 1.89%, in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is INIT, up 15.4%, following the launch of Initia, which aims to revive the appchain concept with an interconnected network and an INIT token airdrop.

Initia (INIT), founded in 2022, is a modular blockchain platform that combines a Layer 1 network with customizable Layer 2 rollups, enabling scalable decentralized app development. It offers flexibility in virtual machines, gas tokens, and transaction systems, while ensuring interoperability and addressing issues like liquidity fragmentation and network congestion. Initia has 

 to revive the appchain concept by offering a network that integrates appchains in a cohesive, interconnected way. The platform emphasizes full-stack control for apps, avoiding fragmentation. Initia is also launching an airdrop with claims available until May 24, 2025. The native token, INIT, has a fixed supply of 1 billion, distributed across eight categories.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

, an institutional-grade fund providing diversified exposure to yield-bearing digital assets. In partnership with Securitize, which has tokenized over $3B in assets, the fund aims to fill a market gap by offering native yield generation in a traditional fund format. Mantle Treasury has committed up to $400M as the anchor investment. The fund will rebalance quarterly and incorporate DeFi-native staking strategies, such as mETH and bbSOL, while ensuring investor protections. MI4 targets both crypto-native and traditional investors, with Phase 1 rollout scheduled for Q2 2025.

Yesterday, BTC spot ETFs saw a total inflow of $114.7 million, all from non-GBTC funds, while GBTC recorded no flow.

Dolomite, the 10th largest DeFi lending app, is launching a 200M token 

 (20% of total supply) during its TGE on April 24, rewarding users based on platform usage. The DOLO token powers a three-token system alongside oDOLO and veDOLO, enabling incentives, governance, and potential revenue sharing. With over $800M in TVL, Dolomite expands to Berachain, integrating with its Proof of Liquidity system to offer advanced lending features and asset utility.

Beginner

2.png

Mantle launches MI4 fund for institutional-grade digital asset exposure and yield generation

Bybit Learn

DeFi

Tornado Cash, a popular crypto mixer, has recently made the news for being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. Find out what actually happened in this article.

Screenshot_2022-09-02_at_11.38.23_PM.png

Numerous crypto projects have become popular before meeting some form of controversy. A large number of them provide investors with a unique “hook” or feature that grabs their attention. In the case of Tornado Cash, this feature involves transaction anonymity by acting as a 

. Despite its advantages, the popular cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash has already stirred up a storm in the crypto world, the details of which are discussed further in this article.

Whenever a user intends to make a deposit with ERC-20 tokens or ETH into the Tornado Cash protocol’s liquidity pools, the protocol first generates a secret hash before admitting both the deposit and the hash. When the individual intends to withdraw their crypto, they simply input the secret hash to prove their ownership over the funds. Since the funds go through the protocol’s liquidity pools first, it becomes impossible to link the deposit to the withdrawal. This provides total asset privacy.

Currently, Tornado Cash is owned in full by its community, to whom ownership was transferred in 2020 when the Tornado Cash team relinquished its control. Since then, Tornado Cash has been a fully decentralized protocol.

A cryptocurrency mixer is a software tool that improves anonymity for some crypto transactions. Once crypto is deposited from one address, it’s mixed with crypto from other transactions and withdrawn from a different address.

The crypto assets must be deposited with a smart contract designed specifically to perform this mixing transaction. Once a set amount of time has passed, users can withdraw their deposited tokens from another address. Every mixer comes with its own distinct mixing process. Various cryptographic techniques (which differ with each protocol) can be used to confirm or verify crypto deposits.

. Storm first became involved in blockchain technology in 2011, later co-founding 

 with Semenov in 2018. He’s also worked with 

, taken part in creating smart contracts, and developed ERC-20 tokens and audited code.

Semenov specialized in quantum statistics and field theory. Prior to co-founding PepperSec, he co-founded 

 and assisted with optimizing eCommerce conversions and funnels. Semenov and Storm used the open-source code from 

 to create Tornado Cash. Even though Zcash operates as a privacy coin, Tornado Cash offers more uses by acting as a 

 mixer service. It's because of this unique value proposition that Tornado Cash quickly became popular after its introduction to the crypto industry in 2019.

Tornado Cash mixes its transactions with 

, which are able to obfuscate all transaction information. Hence, Tornado Cash is considered to be a decentralized service that's operated with the use of smart contracts. This means that centralized parties can't obtain funds from the mixing process.

When a user deposits their funds into Tornado Cash, the protocol generates a completely random hash before the deposit of ERC-20 tokens goes through. In order for the user to withdraw their funds from a different address, they’re required to submit the valid key. Withdrawals can be made with MetaMask or other 

One of the two core components behind Tornado Cash involves zero-knowledge proofs. These are digital protocols which improve privacy by facilitating data sharing between separate parties without providing info about the transactions, which could include passwords.

Since this type of information isn't provided to another party, zero-knowledge proofs greatly improve security and reduce congestion by obviating the need to store information on Layer 1.

Anonymity mining is designed to provide any Tornado Cash user who supports TORN's privacy features with liquidity. Users can obtain cash via a liquidity mining system, which has two stages to ensure user privacy is always maintained. When a user interacts with the Tornado Cash protocol, they receive a certain number of points, which are deposited directly into a shielded account. These can then be converted into TORN tokens, which have a fixed supply.

While Tornado Cash proved to be popular almost immediately after it was launched in 2019, the project itself has since experienced numerous issues, the primary one of which occurred in early August 2022 when 

 by the U.S. Treasury. However, the cause for these sanctions began at an earlier date. In March 2022, Roman Semenov 

 Bloomberg News that enforcing sanctions on decentralized protocols would technically be impossible.

Despite this claim, sanctions were set by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control on August 8, 2022. The reason was Tornado Cash’s ability to grant transactions anonymity as a coin mixer. Coin mixers have regularly been suspected as being a perfect solution for laundering funds.

While money laundering is possible with this service, it's also difficult to prove that it occurs. 

, an Australian computer scientist and businessman who claims he was part of the main team that created Bitcoin, believes that mixing standard transactions with potentially criminal activities ensures that every transaction within a crypto pool is effectively contaminated. Since its inception, the team at Tornado Cash has stated it will impose effective controls designed to limit or stop funds from being laundered by malicious cyber actors.

Despite these promises, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that Tornado Cash never took the necessary steps to prevent illicit activity, such as fraud and 

. It believes that currency mixers such as Tornado Cash pose a threat to national security — which is partially due to Tornado Cash allegedly being used in various crypto heists over the past year. For instance, in March 2022, 

. Another attack occurred on a start-up known as Harmony, which resulted in 

Before August’s sanctions, the TORN token was worth a little more than $30. At the moment, it's worth almost $9, with a market cap of over $9.63 million. TORN’s fully diluted market cap is approximately $87.6 million, with just under 1.1 million TORN tokens currently in circulation. The token’s maximum supply is locked at 10 million.

The Tornado Cash platform is mainly used by crypto investors and holders who want to perform completely anonymous transactions. Users can also access TORN tokens to make 

 proposals, or vote for changes in the protocol. When users obtain enough anonymity points through Tornado Cash, they can convert these points into TORN tokens.

Soon after U.S. sanctions were imposed on Tornado Cash, an arrest was made in Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Dutch authorities 

 a 29-year-old Tornado Cash developer suspected of criminal activities. Many Tornado Cash developers quickly expressed concern over what would happen next.

The authorities believe that the developer they arrested, 

, was involved in money laundering and keeping criminal financial flows hidden by effectively mixing cryptocurrencies. 

The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service has since stated that more arrests are possible in the coming weeks. At the moment, it's unclear if Pertsev was engaged in criminal activity, or was simply involved with writing code for the Tornado Cash protocol.

The Treasury Department stated that Tornado Cash has been used for the 

 in virtual currency since 2019, which includes a theft of $455 million by what's known as the 

, a North-Korean cybercrime group made up of anonymous individuals from North Korea. As mentioned previously, these sanctions were made after the TORN team allegedly failed to eliminate these issues from its platform.

These sanctions directly prohibit U.S. individuals and businesses from providing any services centered on the Tornado Cash platform. U.S. individuals are also unable to access Ethereum wallet addresses that have been sanctioned by the protocol. Once these sanctions were implemented, TORN’s value dropped by nearly 46%. The sanctions placed on Tornado Cash were the first to be implemented on a DeFi platform.

As a result of these sanctions, any property or crypto assets related to Tornado Cash that a U.S. citizen or entity is in possession of must be reported directly to the Treasury Department. Moreover, any transaction involving these assets is prohibited in the U.S.

All funds that leave Tornado Cash are associated with the imposed sanctions, which means that any cryptocurrency exchanges or businesses that come into contact with these crypto assets will be notified that the assets are tainted. Crypto assets that were mixed through the Tornado Cash platform before the sanctions took place aren't of interest to the Treasury Department, and can be freely withdrawn.

If you hold any Tornado Cash assets that are blocked under these sanctions, a report needs to be filed within 10 business days after the virtual currency is blocked. Additional reports will need to be filed annually until the virtual currency is unblocked.

What This Means for Other Virtual Currency Mixers

The Treasury Department has made it clear that they want to resolve the money laundering issues which they believe are inherent to crypto mixers. Accordingly, other crypto mixers aren't necessarily safe from future sanctions.

Note, however, that according to Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson, the Treasury Department had

 Tornado Cash several times to improve their platform and reduce the possibility of criminal activities, to which they repeatedly failed to do so. Therefore, it could be years before other crypto mixers are sanctioned as well.

For innocent users, the sanctions can be particularly frustrating. Moreover, if you've conducted crypto transactions after a certain date, you could be blocked entirely from withdrawing your Tornado Cash assets. Because these events are so recent, it's difficult to predict what's going to happen next.

Some notable figures find these sanctions troubling, and are inquiring with the Treasury Department as to why they were made. For instance, 

 on his official Twitter page that he sent a letter to the Department on August 23, asking why Tornado Cash had been sanctioned. He believes that these sanctions diverge from precedent, and that the issues are tied to open-source software, as opposed to specific entities or people. A response to his letter has not yet been received.

Tornado Cash is a crypto platform that has proven to be highly popular among investors and crypto holders who want more anonymity with their transactions. However, because the platform’s decentralized nature and crypto-mixing capability can allegedly enable money laundering, the U.S. Treasury Department recently sanctioned Tornado Cash. While these sanctions won't necessarily be in place forever, Tornado Cash’s trajectory will likely remain unclear for the foreseeable future.

Tornado Cash: How It’s Stirring Up a Storm in the Crypto World

Compete for 2,500 USDT Every Week

Tornado Cash: How It’s Stirring Up a Storm in the Crypto World

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Compete for 2,500 USDT Every Week

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards