Cryptocurrency Advocacy Organizations Back Tornado Cash Developer in Ongoing Legal Dispute – Latest Updates

Crypto advocacy organizations have rallied behind Roman Storm, the creator of Tornado Cash, in his ongoing legal proceedings.

Storm, who was apprehended in August and faces three charges linked to his position as a co-founder of the Ethereum privacy protocol, has recently submitted a motion to have the charges against him dismissed.

He contended that the government’s reasoning was flawed in its interpretation of Tornado Cash’s services and blockchain technology.

Three notable pro-crypto groups, Coin Center, the Blockchain Association, and the DeFi Education Fund, have submitted amicus briefs in support of Storm.

Although each brief was drafted and submitted independently, they all present comparable arguments opposing the government’s indictment.

US Claims Storm Functioned as an Unregistered Money Transmitter

The government’s indictment claims that Storm and his co-founder Roman Semenov operated a business that transferred funds on behalf of the public without registering Tornado Cash with the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

This resulted in the charge of conspiracy to run an unlicensed money transmitting operation.

However, the Blockchain Association’s brief emphasizes that FinCEN’s own definitions contradict this portrayal.

The brief states that intermediaries can only be held liable as money transmitters if they have complete independent control over the assets, which is not applicable to Tornado Cash.

The brief cautions that if the government’s interpretation prevails, it would effectively prohibit anonymizing protocols and render compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act unfeasible for developers.

Coin Center’s brief centers on arguments against the charge of conspiracy to breach the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) and offers a First Amendment defense.

It asserts that the conspiracy charge should not be valid since decisions regarding Tornado Cash’s functionality and release were made well before any awareness of alleged sanctions violations.

The brief draws a comparison to developers of the Linux open-source operating system, suggesting that it would be akin to claiming they colluded with a regime simply by releasing a valuable computing tool that the regime subsequently utilized for its own ends.

“Publishing decisions regarding the software’s functionality and its release were made long before any awareness of the [North Korean state-sponsored hackers] Lazarus Group’s actions could have existed,” the brief states.

DeFi Education Fund Questions Charges Against Storm

The DeFi Education Fund’s brief also contests the charges and outlines a troubling scenario should Storm lose the case.

It argues that affirming the liability theories proposed by the government would grant them unchecked authority to prosecute software developers for code that is later misused by third parties.

This absence of a limiting principle could subject developers of open-source software to criminal liability for actions beyond their control years or even decades later.

“Without a limiting principle in place, nearly all developers who create open-source software would face criminal liability for activities outside of their control years or decades later.”

Currently, government prosecutors have not yet responded to Storm’s motion to dismiss the charges.

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