Here’s what happened in crypto today
Today in crypto, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) briefly listed a page for upcoming derivative products tied to cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, a US court in Texas has overturned sanctions on Tornado Cash, and President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht.CME website hints at XRP, SOL futures debut in FebruaryThe CME website hinted at the introduction of SOL (SOL) and XRP (XRP) futures contracts that could debut as early as Feb. 10, pending regulatory review.According to the website — which later removed the page — contracts for both assets will be available in standard and micro sizes, with the standard SOL contract having a 500 SOL lot size and the micro-contract accounting for 25 SOL.Standard-size XRP futures contracts will feature lot sizes of 50,000 XRP, with the micro futures contracts featuring a 2,500 XRP lot size. All contracts for XRP and SOL will settle in US dollars.US court overturns Tornado Cash sanctions in pivotal case for cryptoA US court has overturned the sanctions against the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixing protocol in a decision that could signal a shift significant toward more innovation-friendly regulations for privacy-preserving technologies. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) originally sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, accusing it of facilitating money laundering by the North Korean Lazarus Group. The group was alleged to have laundered more than $455 million in stolen digital assets through the protocol.The sanctions led to the arrest of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, who was found guilty of money laundering by Dutch judges at the s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal on May 14, 2024. Pertsev was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for laundering $1.2 billion in illicit assets through the platform.In a significant legal development, the US District Court for the Western District of Texas has reversed the OFAC sanctions, according to a Jan. 21 court filing.The court ruling comes after six Tornado Cash users filed an appeal against OFAC’s sanctions.The appeal, issued on Nov. 26, 2024, argued that OFAC overstepped its “statutory authority” by blacklisting Tornado Cash in 2022.Trump pardons Silk Road creator Ross UlbrichtUS President Donald Trump gave a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the darknet marketplace the Silk Road, who had been in prison for 12 years and was set to serve a double life sentence plus 40 years.“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump said in a Jan. 21 post on his Truth Social platform.One of Trump’s campaign promises to the crypto community was to pardon Ulbricht on his first day back in office.Several Bitcoiners had earlier expressed frustration with Trump for not following through on his promise to pardon Ulbricht on Jan. 20. Trump instead pardoned around 1,500 people involved in the US Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.