Roman Storm described the prosecution of Tornado Cash in a Jan. Post by The word “a” is pronounced as “as” “terrifying criminalization of privacy.”Tornado Cash, a privacy protocol that facilitates private crypto-transactions via an open-source code, is not supervised.
“He said:
“I am being prosecuted for writing open-source code that enables private crypto transactions in a completely non-custodial manner […] The charges against me threaten to criminalize software development itself.”
Storms Learn more about how to charge He was charged with money laundering conspiracy, sanctions evasion, operating a non-licensed money transfer business and running an illegal money transmitting company. His trial has been set for April 14th, 2025. He was arrested in 2023 on August 23rd.
Impact of this case has already been felt. Storm noted that another developer, Michael Lewellen, recently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ), seeking relief from fears of releasing new software in the wake of Storm’s prosecution.
Lewellen’s lawsuit Addresses This is the reasoning that the DOJ has used in prosecuting the Tornado Cash developers and Samourai Wallet. This reasoning has broad implications and could criminalize software development.
Storm’s statement comes after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to remove Tornado Cash-linked addresses from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list.
The court also ruled that the sanctioning of the protocol did not prevent bad actors from using the protocol, since smart contracts can be used by anyone, and they are independent, autonomous, and uncontrollable.
The court suggested that legislation be updated to govern the use of cryptomixers. In order to allow Tornado cash and other applications like it to function independently, current legislation should be updated.
The US Court of Appeals had ruled on Nov. 26 that the US Court of Appeals was a judicial body. already determined that the Treasury exceeded its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts. Storm’s legal victory motivated him to File a Motion On Dec. 20, he requested the dismissal the criminal charges brought against him.
Vitalik Anderin Support
Separate Social media postsStorm Thank you Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for supporting his and fellow Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev’s cases.
Buterin You can also read our article about how to get in touch with us. Tornado Cash is a product of his efforts, so failing to help its developers would be a failure. “violate basic honor.”
The Ethereum founder added:
“In Ethereum we protect our own, and uphold our honor.”
There is an issue with section 1960
Storm also brought to light confusion regarding the Section 60 charge of running an illegal money-transfer business. The developer cited the conflicting interpretations by government agencies of Section 1960, which has muddied compliance and regulations for him.
Amanda Tuminelli serves as the DeFi Education Fund’s Chief Legal Officer. Raising concerns about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) interpretation of Section 1960 in December 2024.
Tuminelli claimed that Section 1960 was poorly written and had been amended in a haphazard manner, leading to legal confusion and contradictory interpretations. The paper outlined the statute’s historical evolution and highlighted its “complicated”″;” “peculiar”The courts have criticised the language as being hard to understand.
Additionally, she asserted that protocols like Tornado Cash, which are non-custodial and do not control user funds, should not fall within the statute’s scope. She uses the Roman Storm case to demonstrate that self-custodial protocol cannot be classified. “money-transmitting businesses” under the statute’s plain language.
Tuminelli explored further the interaction between Section 1960, and the definitions of the Bank Secrecy act (BSA), and argued that they share the same fundamental requirement: An entity must be able to gain control and then relinquish it over money in order to qualify as an agent for the transference of funds.
Vivek RAMASWAMY, a businessman and entrepreneur, commented on the fact that instead of pursuing developers who violate existing laws, authorities should rather pursue those bad actors.
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