Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), criticized the U.S. Treasury's recent filing

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), criticized the U.S. Treasury's recent filing that seeks to moot the necessity of a final court judgment regarding Tornado Cash

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), criticized the U.S. Treasury's recent filing that seeks to moot the necessity of a final court judgment regarding Tornado Cash after having delisted the crypto mixer from the sanctions list.

The Treasury argued that its action of delisting Tornado Cash from the Specially Designated Nationals list on Friday had rendered the issue at hand moot and that a final court ruling ordering it to remove the crypto mixer from its sanctions list was no longer necessary, according to a court filing dated March 21.

However, Grewal said the Treasury's attempts to have the case declared moot is an attempt to sidestep a ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that will leave the door open for a renewed blacklisting and sanctions.

"After grudgingly delisting TC, they now claim they've mooted any need for a final court judgment. But that's not the law, and they know it. As the Supreme Court explained in Church & State v. Reals, 'a defendant's decision to cease challenged conduct renders a case moot only if the defendant can show that the conduct cannot "reasonably be expected to recur."' Grewal said on X.

Coinbase funded the court case that made its way to the appeals court, Van Loon vs. Treasury. The case began in 2022 after the Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash and its founder, and the exchange argued that the move was unlawful.

Grewal said the Treasury's argument is an attempt to avoid a ruling on the merits of the case, which will leave the door open for the administration to re-sanction Tornado Cash.

"We're grateful to the court for recognizing the absurdity of Treasury's attempt to use its own unlawful conduct to avoid a ruling from the Fifth Circuit on the merits of the case. As the court noted, 'the fact that the agency's conduct in this case was unlawful is not a new legal theory that the court should avoid addressing.'

Coinbase’s attorneys at Miller Canetti advised the exchange on the case.