U.S. Treasury Recognizes Legitimate Uses For Crypto Mixers

"Lawful users of digital assets may leverage mixers to enable financial privacy when transacting through public blockchains. This represents a recalibration from Treasury's earlier stance, which included sanctioning Tornado Cash in 2022 and designating international mixers as money-laundering hubs in 2023, acknowledging that legitimate purposes exist alongside illicit exploitation."

"DPRK-affiliated cybercriminals stole at least $2.8 billion in digital assets between January 2024 and September 2025, including a $1.5 billion hack of the Bybit exchange. In these operations, mixers are commonly used to break tracing links, often in combination with stablecoin swaps and cross-chain bridges to obscure asset movement."

"Since May 2020, more than $37.4 billion in withdrawals from over 50 bridges were denominated in the two largest stablecoins by market capitalization. Of that total, approximately $1.6 billion flowed from mixing services, with over $900 million concentrated in a single bridge, demonstrating significant mixing activity patterns."

The U.S. Treasury Department submitted a 32-page report to Congress recognizing that bitcoin and cryptocurrency mixers can serve lawful financial privacy purposes for protecting sensitive information about personal wealth, business payments, and charitable donations. This represents a significant shift from Treasury's previous stance, which included sanctioning Tornado Cash in 2022 and designating international mixers as money-laundering hubs in 2023. The report proposes new legislative tools, including a "hold law" providing temporary safe harbor for financial institutions to freeze suspicious digital assets. However, Treasury data simultaneously documents that criminal actors, particularly North Korea-affiliated cybercriminals, continue exploiting mixers to launder stolen assets, with DPRK-linked actors stealing at least $2.8 billion in digital assets between January 2024 and September 2025. The report analyzes mixing activity involving stablecoins and bridges, revealing that since May 2020, over $37.4 billion in bridge withdrawals were denominated in major stablecoins, with approximately $1.6 billion flowing from mixing services.

Read at Bitcoin Magazine