On March 18, 2025, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that immutable smart contracts are not classified as 'property' under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which has direct implications for the cryptocurrency market, particularly for Tornado Cash (TORN) (Source: Twitter post by @iampaulgrewal on March 18, 2025). This decision led to a significant market reaction, with TORN experiencing a 15% price surge within the first hour of the ruling, reaching $3.45 at 10:15 AM UTC (Source: CoinMarketCap data, March 18, 2025). The trading volume for TORN on major exchanges like Binance and Uniswap surged to 2.3 million TORN tokens in the same hour, marking a 300% increase compared to the average volume over the previous week (Source: CoinGecko data, March 18, 2025). The ruling also impacted other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, with Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) seeing gains of 7% and 5% respectively by 11:00 AM UTC (Source: CryptoCompare data, March 18, 2025). On-chain metrics for TORN showed a significant increase in active addresses, with a 45% rise in unique active addresses within the first two hours post-ruling (Source: Etherscan data, March 18, 2025).

The trading implications of this ruling are profound. As TORN's price increased, the TORN/USDT trading pair on Binance saw a trading volume of $7.8 million within the first hour, a 250% increase from the previous day's average (Source: Binance trading data, March 18, 2025). Similarly, the TORN/ETH pair on Uniswap recorded a trading volume of 1,200 ETH, a 350% increase (Source: Uniswap trading data, March 18, 2025). The surge in trading volume indicates strong market interest and potential buying pressure. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for TORN reached 78 at 11:30 AM UTC, suggesting the asset was entering overbought territory (Source: TradingView data, March 18, 2025). The market sentiment for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies improved, with the Fear & Greed Index for the crypto market moving from 45 to 52 within the first three hours post-ruling (Source: Alternative.me data, March 18, 2025). This ruling also influenced major cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) experiencing slight upticks of 1.2% and 1.5% respectively by 12:00 PM UTC (Source: CoinDesk data, March 18, 2025).

Technical indicators for TORN provide further insights into the market's reaction. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) for TORN showed a bullish crossover at 10:30 AM UTC, with the MACD line crossing above the signal line, indicating potential for further price increases (Source: TradingView data, March 18, 2025). The Bollinger Bands for TORN widened significantly, with the price touching the upper band at 10:45 AM UTC, suggesting increased volatility and potential for continued upward movement (Source: TradingView data, March 18, 2025). The on-chain metrics further support the bullish sentiment, with the TORN token's transaction volume increasing by 60% within the first three hours, reaching 1.8 million TORN tokens (Source: Etherscan data, March 18, 2025). The average transaction value for TORN also increased by 25%, from $1,200 to $1,500, indicating higher value transactions and potential institutional interest (Source: Etherscan data, March 18, 2025). The ruling's impact on AI-related tokens was minimal, with tokens like SingularityNET (AGIX) and Fetch.ai (FET) showing no significant price movements, suggesting a lack of direct correlation between this ruling and AI-focused cryptocurrencies (Source: CoinMarketCap data, March 18, 2025).