U.S. Treasury Report Acknowledges Legitimate Privacy Uses for Crypto Mixers

Public blockchains expose transaction flows, while mixers make funds harder to trace by splitting and pooling assets. This can protect information about personal wealth, corporate payments and donations, although mixers are also used for money laundering. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, making the government’s acknowledgment of legitimate privacy needs a significant shift in its regulatory narrative.

The Treasury Department released a 32-page report to Congress on March 5, 2026, stating that North Korea-linked hackers stole about $2.8 billion in digital assets between January 2024 and September 2025. More than $1.6 billion in mixed funds had flowed through cross-chain bridges since May 2020. The report recommended that Congress establish a “hold law” to temporarily freeze suspicious assets and strengthen identity and transaction tracking through custodial services regulated by FinCEN.