Roman Storm, a significant figure behind the Tornado Cash privacy protocol, posed a question to the community of open source developers regarding the potential for retroactive prosecution by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). He articulated concerns for those creating decentralized finance (DeFi) services.

Storm queried, “How can you be so sure you won’t be charged by the DOJ as a money service business for building a non-custodial protocol?”
He highlighted that the DOJ might argue that decentralized non-custodial services should have been designed as custodial services, referencing his own recent legal challenges. Storm’s motion for acquittal, filed on September 30, is a point of concern.

Roman Storm
Source: Roman Storm

Storm emphasized, “Our company does not have any ability to affect any change, or take any action, with respect to the Tornado Cash protocol — it is a decentralized software protocol that no one entity or actor can control.”

In August, he was found guilty on one count out of three related charges, which has raised concerns about the implications for developers within the open source ecosystem. Legal professionals discussed whether Storm would face further charges in a possible subsequent trial, given that the jury could not reach a consensus on other counts.

Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at Variant Fund, stated, “If the Trump administration wants the USA to be the crypto capital of the world, then the DOJ must not be allowed to retry the two deadlocked charges.”

Matthew Galeotti from the DOJ signaled a more lenient approach regarding future prosecutions, expressing that merely coding without malicious intent should not constitute a crime. He assured innovators that the department wouldn’t use criminal charges as a means to create laws without clarity.

The Struggle for Privacy Continues

As debates around this topic persist, the future of privacy in DeFi development remains uncertain.