A developer has transitioned the contentious cryptocurrency privacy tool Tornado Cash to the public testnet of the MegaETH blockchain, facilitating private transactions on this newly-established, high-capacity network.
Launched recently, MegaETH is capable of processing up to 20,000 transactions per second, setting a new standard in transaction speed.
The developer, who operates under the pseudonym Gunboats, noted that the inspiration for this initiative arose after the U.S. Treasury removed Tornado Cash addresses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list, following a court ruling delivered earlier this year.
Tornado Cash Returns to MegaETH Testnet as ‘ETHTornado’
The reintroduction of Tornado Cash on MegaETH is branded as ETHTornado.
“I thought, maybe someone should try to deploy [Tornado Cash] on the hottest thing right now… there is no change in code needed and that’s really a good thing,” Gunboats expressed on social media platform X.
Characterizing the undertaking as “half a joke,” Gunboats revealed the use of the outdated Truffle framework for porting the protocol.
Some members of the cryptocurrency community have voiced concerns about possible wallet “dusting,” a tactic where small amounts of cryptocurrency are sent to numerous wallets, which might jeopardize their eligibility for airdrops.
One user on X, known as 0x_ultra, highlighted that several cryptocurrency projects disqualify wallets associated with Tornado Cash from receiving token rewards.
This development follows a recent MegaETH experiment in which 190,000 wallets received testnet tokens within a span of just 15 seconds.
today im releasing a custom fluffle builder on FT!few days ago @0xBreadguy asked me if i could make a custom builder so more people that don't own an NFT could join the @megaeth_labs movement, so here it is link 
https://t.co/1dvcGtXnnlselect any trait, zoom, and… pic.twitter.com/ek2QoUqbJD
— ultra (@0x_ultra) March 22, 2025
Gunboats downplayed the dusting issue, calling it trivial.
“It’s really silly anyway whether you can dust people’s wallet at 10ms or 12 seconds a time—the end result is you got put on the list,” they commented.
Bread, who oversees community and growth at MegaETH, responded favorably to the deployment and encouraged Gunboats to document the initiative on the platform’s community wiki.
Gunboats, claiming to operate from outside the United States, also brushed aside potential legal complications concerning the project, referencing Roman Storm, a developer associated with Tornado Cash who is currently facing legal challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice.
While the protocol has yet to gain significant traction on MegaETH, Gunboats acknowledged that the absence of a user-friendly frontend remains a barrier to wider adoption.
U.S. Treasury Lifts Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Citing Evolving Digital Finance Policies
In a significant development, the U.S. Treasury Department has lifted sanctions against the Ethereum-based transaction mixing protocol Tornado Cash. This decision reflects a reevaluation of the government’s approach to regulating decentralized financial technologies.
According to a press release issued on Friday, Treasury officials explained that the decision was made following a review of the application of existing sanctions laws to decentralized platforms.
This update comes in the wake of a court filing within the case of Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury, where government lawyers acknowledged the necessity for a more contemporary legal framework to address advancements in financial technology.
Despite the removal of Tornado Cash from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list, the Treasury has emphasized its commitment to monitoring and combating the illicit use of digital assets, particularly concerning cybercrime and money laundering linked to North Korea.
“Securing the digital asset industry from abuse by North Korea and other illicit actors is essential to establishing U.S. leadership and ensuring that the American people can benefit from financial innovation and inclusion,” the Treasury stated.
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