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Roman Storm, co‑creator of Tornado Cash, has gone on trial in Manhattan on charges including laundering over $1 billion, in a landmark case pitting software freedom against financial crime enforcement, The Block reports.
What’s the Scoop?
- Charges Filed: Storm is facing accusations of money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmission business, carrying a potential sentence of up to 45 years.
- Prosecution’s Case: Prosecutors allege he knowingly facilitated laundering for North Korea’s Lazarus Group and other bad actors, using
Tornado Cash as a laundering tool. - Free Code Defense: Storm’s lawyers argue he merely published open-source code and had no control over how others used it—framing the trial as a battle over free speech and developer rights.
- Community Backing: Crypto advocates have rallied around Storm’s defense, with over $2.5 million in ETH donated and vocal support from Coin Center, Paradigm, and the EFF.
- DeFi Showdown: The case could set a major precedent for developer liability in decentralized protocols, with broad implications for open-source contributors across Web3.
