Roman Storm, founder of the Tornado Cash privacy protocol, has raised alarms within the crypto community, warning that open-source developers face potential retroactive criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for building non-custodial decentralized finance (DeFi) software. Storm's warning comes amid his ongoing legal battle, where he was found guilty in August on one count of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmission business, while the jury deadlocked on more serious charges related to money laundering and sanctions violations.
In court filings and public statements, Storm argued that U.S. law provides minimal protection for developers who publish code, with prosecutors alleging that Tornado Cash was used to launder over $1 billion. He directly questioned DeFi developers, asking, "How can you be so sure you will not be charged by the Justice department as a money service business for building a non-custodial protocol?" The defense countered that the protocol is non-custodial and decentralized, meaning no single entity controls user funds, and argued that blaming developers for third-party misuse could chill open-source innovation.
Adding to the legal drama, Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general for the DOJ's criminal division, stated that the department will not pursue a retrial against Storm and emphasized that merely writing code without bad intentions is not a crime. This follows community efforts, including a partnership between the Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Network, to fund Storm's legal defense by directing 100% of protocol fees from zkVerified vaults on Ethereum to his legal fund for two months.
Legal experts have expressed concern that the case could set a broad precedent, impacting all DeFi developers, with some highlighting free speech implications for code publication. Storm's team has filed motions for acquittal, pressing the court to consider whether code creators can be punished for how others use their work.
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