The crypto world watches closely as a landmark case could set precedent for developer liability, testing the boundaries between coding and criminal responsibility in decentralized finance.
Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm faces trial in Manhattan on Monday for alleged money laundering conspiracy, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmitter. The charges carry a potential 45-year sentence, while his colleague Roman Semenov remains at large and Alexey Pertsev serves a 5-year sentence in the Netherlands.
Prosecutors allege Storm’s privacy-focused mixer facilitated over $1 billion in illicit transactions, including $100M+ for North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Storm’s defense maintains he merely created open-source software, arguing developers shouldn’t be liable for third-party misuse. Legal experts predict a fierce battle over this fundamental question of developer responsibility.
The trial proceeds despite recent crypto-friendly policy shifts under the Trump administration, which dropped multiple crypto cases and formed a pro-industry SEC task force. Notably, prosecutors maintained charges even after OFAC removed Tornado Cash from its sanctions list following a court ruling against smart contract sanctions.
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CryptoFeedHub Note: This article is a rewritten summary based on external reporting. Original source: Coindesk.com