Free
Roman
Storm
#FreeRomanStorm
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Congress Must Act: Storm Case Could Rewrite Digital Asset Law
Tech industry, blockchain organizations, and legal experts urge Congress to address the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) misapplication of 18 U.S.C. § 1960 to software developers like Roman Storm.
Clarify Regulatory Boundaries:
The DOJ’s interpretation of § 1960 conflicts with FinCEN’s 2019 Guidance , which excludes non-custodial software developers (who lack control over user funds) from being classified as «money transmitters.» This creates legal ambiguity, jeopardizing developers who act in good faith under existing rules.
Legal Precedent Gap:
No court has ever supported the DOJ’s novel interpretation of § 1960. Prosecuting Storm under this untested theory risks criminalizing code development itself, threatening innovation in blockchain and beyond.
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Who is Roman Storm?
With a strong background in software development and blockchain technology, Roman Storm has been a leading innovator and vocal advocate for privacy in the blockchain ecosystem. Storm’s work has made significant contributions to ongoing discussions about the balance between privacy and regulatory compliance in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrencies.
Despite facing criminal charges, Storm is committed to challenging the Southern District of New York prosecutors’ unprecedented and overly expansive theories of criminal liability and advancing the principles of decentralization and personal privacy.
Help Roman in his fight against the criminalization of software development and join him in standing up for the right to privacy!
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Lobby the Trump administration to #FreeRomanStorm
Allegations
The prosecution of Roman Storm, begun under the Biden administration, has already had a chilling effect on software developers and the Southern District of New York prosecutors’ pursuit of the following three charges will set a dangerous precedent for the crypto and software industries.Unlicensed Money Transmitting
Longstanding FinCEN guidance reflects the FinTech industry’s understanding that the exercise of control over crypto assets is the key factor in determining whether a money transmitting business exists. The prosecutors’ unprecedented theory in this case dispenses with this control requirement, meaning any software developer or wallet provider could be required to register as a money services business and be subject to U.S. government regulations (or face criminal penalties).
Money Laundering
To be guilty of money laundering, the defendant must have specific knowledge that a financial transaction includes proceeds of certain specified unlawful activity, and specific intent to further that criminal transaction. In Roman’s case, the prosecutors are arguing here that this requirement can be satisfied even where a developer has no participation in a criminal transaction but simply cannot stop a criminal actor from misusing the immutable, open-source software the developer built and deployed to the blockchain. If successful, such a theory would considerably increase the legal risks associated with the development of DeFi applications, which inherently depend on immutability and openness.
Sanctions Evasion
Criminal violations of sanctions laws are limited to cases where a defendant “willfully” chooses to do business with a sanctioned person or entity. At no time did Roman have any communications with illicit actors who allegedly used Tornado Cash or take any steps to facilitate their use of the protocol. The government’s theory effectively dispenses with the “willful” requirement and creates strict liability under sanctions regulations for anyone in the DeFi industry.
How Roman Storm’s Case Will Affect Software Industry?
DOJ determined to set a precedent
Tornado Cash is an open source software protocol that uses smart contracts and a cryptographic method known as zero-knowledge proofs to enable users to conduct private transactions on the blockchain. Neither Roman Storm, nor any other person has the ability to stop or modify this immutable, unstoppable protocol.. In this context, Tornado Cash operates much like the Bitcoin or Ethereum network. The prosecution of Roman Storm by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in *U.S. v. Storm* for his role in developing Tornado Cash will set a chilling precedent for the crypto industry by holding developers liable for how third parties use their open-source code.
The case hinges on allegations that Storm violated 18 U.S.C. § 1960 by operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, despite Tornado Cash being a non-custodial protocol where users retain full control of their funds, challenging the applicability of Section 1960 to decentralized software.
The money laundering conspiracy charge raises concerns about whether developers can be criminally accountable for the actions of bad actors, like North Korea’s Lazarus Group, who used Tornado Cash to obscure illicit transactions. A conviction could deter innovation by discouraging developers from creating privacy-focused tools, fearing prosecution for misuse beyond their control, while an acquittal might affirm that writing open-source code is protected speech under the First Amendment.
The outcome will likely shape the legal boundaries of developer liability and the future of decentralized finance (DeFi), impacting how regulators approach immutable protocols.
Timeline
- Aug 8, 2022
OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash
OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash, citing alleged use by North Korean Lazarus Group and other illicit actors actors
- Sep 8, 2022
Plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging Tornado Cash sanctions
A group of plaintiffs who have utilized Tornado Cash for legitimate purposes files a lawsuit against the Department of Treasury and OFAC over the designation of Tornado Cash by OFAC (Van Loon v. Dep’t of Treasury).
- Oct 12, 2022
Coin Center sues to challenge Tornado Cash sanctions
Coin Center sues the Department of Treasury challenging the imposition of sanctions on the Tornado Cash protocol, alleging that OFAC «exceeded its statutory authority» in sanctioning Tornado Cash (Coin Center v. Yellen).
- Nov 2022
Roman Storm voluntarily speaks with government authorities
Roman voluntarily gives an interview with the DOJ, FBI, and IRS-CI.
- Aug 17, 2023
District Court rules against plaintiffs in Van Loon
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas rules against the plaintiffs in Van Loon, siding with the Department of the Treasury and upholding the sanctions on Tornado Cash.
- Aug 23, 2023
Roman arrested
Roman is arrested by armed FBI agents executing a search warrant on his home in Washington at 6am, handcuffing him in front of his 3-year old daughter. He is charged with three counts of conspiracy. The case is assigned to Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York.
- Sep 20, 2023
Van Loon plaintiffs file an appeal
The plaintiffs in Van Loon files an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, challenging the district court’s decision
- Oct 30, 2023
Coin Center loses lawsuit
Coin Center loses its lawsuit against the Department of Treasury over sanctions on Tornado Cash.
- Mar 29, 2024
Roman files motion to dismiss charges
Roman Storm files a motion to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that the government’s theories of liability fail to allege violations of the relevant criminal statutes.
- Apr 5, 2024
Amicus briefs filed in support of Roman
Amicus briefs are filed by the DeFi Education Fund, Coin Center, and Blockchain Association in support of Roman’s motion to dismiss the charges against him.
- Sep 26, 2024
The district court denies Roman’s motion to dismiss
The district court denies Roman’s motion to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed to trial.
- Nov 26, 2024
Van Loon plaintiffs win their appeal
Van Loon plaintiffs succeed in their appeal. The Fifth Circuit rules that OFAC exceeded its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts.
- Dec 18, 2024
Roman files motion to reconsider dismissal
Relying on the Fifth Circuit’s findings in Van Loon that Tornado Cash is an immutable set of smart contracts, Roman’s defense team files a motion to reconsider the denial of his prior motion to dismiss the criminal charges.
- Jan 29, 2025
EFF files amicus brief in support of Roman
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) files an amicus brief supporting Roman Storm’s motion to reconsider the denied motion to dismiss in light of the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Van Loon.
- Feb 19, 2025
Roman’s motion for reconsideration is denied by the district court
The district court denies Roman’s motion to reconsider, stating that «Van Loon does not require dismissal because it does not bear on the charged conduct.
- Mar 21, 2025
Tornado Cash sanctions removed
Treasury Department lifts Biden-era sanctions on Tornado Cash, following the Van Loon appellate court ruling that deemed the sanctions an overreach of government authority. Read more
- Apr 7, 2025
DOJ Issues Memo re: "Ending Regulation By Prosecution”
The memo, issued by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, states that the DOJ «is not a digital assets regulator» and acknowledged that «the Biden Administration created a particularly uncertain regulatory environment around digital assets.» Per the memo, DOJ «will no longer target virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.» Nevertheless, the SDNY prosectors are still pursuing their case against Roman.
- May 5, 2025
Separate SDNY Case Reveals FinCEN Officials’ Views Contradict Prosecutors’
In a separate SDNY case involving a mixer, prosecutors belatedly disclosed that FinCEN officials stated that «FinCEN guidance has generally focused on custody of cryptocurrency in the question of determining whether an entity is acting as a [money transmitting business]» and where a protocol «does not take ‘custody’ of the cryptocurrency by possessing the private keys to any addresses where the cryptocurrency is stored, that would strongly suggest that [the protocol] is NOT acting as an MSB.» This is consistent with Roman’s understanding and that of the industry and undermines the SDNY’s position that custody or control is not required to act as a money transmitting business. Read more
- Jul 14, 2025
Roman’s trial scheduled to begin
Community
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bal0 (am a.wassie now, verse)@fiat_scareIf they go after the devs they also have to go after everyone that produces guns. Its 100% the same situation. "Not the tool is evil, but the ones who use it for evil things."
papiofficial ᛤ@shmulaI have personally known @rstormsf for the last 5+ years. He is an upstanding, kind person, massively talented, loves his family, and loves America and wants to innovate and build. I stand with Roman.
CryptoStatto@crypto_stattoTruly awful. This must be looked into. All software engineers could fall foul of this.
Paul Mak 🖖@UnbanktFinancial privacy is not a crime.
Writing code is not a crime and @rstormsf is not a criminal.
Criminalizing privacy tools, software development and their developers undermines innovation and freedom.
Protecting privacy is a value and should be rewarded, not prosecuted.
Matt Huang@matthuangParadigm will be donating $1.25M to help fund Roman Storm’s legal defense
The prosecution’s case threatens to hold software developers criminally liable for the bad acts of third parties, which would have a chilling effect in crypto and beyond
We must stand with @rstormsf
CoinDesk@CoinDeskThe @EFF is calling for the case against @rstormsf to be dismissed arguing that it might create a chilling effect that harms other privacy-preserving tools, @thesamreynolds writes.
Caoimhin Séis@caoimhinllc@realDonaldTrump @elonmusk time to take action on your campaign promises. Coding is simply writing instructions in a language a computer can understand. It is speech. MAGA is pro free speech, right? Right?
Seth For Privacy 🥪 | #FreeSamourai #FreeTC@sethforprivacyIf you really mean this @realDonaldTrump, you'll drop the ongoing persecution of @SamouraiWallet and @TornadoCash developers who created non-custodial privacy tools for Bitcoin and Ethereum.#FreeSamourai and #FreeRoman!
Jake Chervinsky@jchervinskyThe Biden DOJ’s unjust prosecution of @rstormsf is the single most important policy issue facing crypto today.
If the DOJ is allowed to imprison software developers who build non-custodial smart contract protocols, crypto dies in the USA.
The Trump DOJ must end this case now.
Ryan Singer@Ryan_Singer@rstormsf is a friend of mine and a great software engineer who was building critical infrastructure. This prosecution is unjust and every American should feel ashamed until it's ended.
Wendy O@CryptoWendyORoss is Free
Roman deserves to be FREE
Creating code should not be a crime when the person who created it did not break the law!
WeeThePeePill@WeeThePeePillYour prosecution violates the First Amendment and is out of line with public will. Stay strong, we support you and value your work. Hopefully the times are changing.
개꿀인생 🌪@DogHoney_LifeRoman Storm is the Satoshi Nakamoto of my world.
The Korean community and I will fight tirelessly for Roman Storm's freedom! ✌️
#Tornadocash #FreeRomanStorm
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerinYou created Tornado in significant part because of my suggestion that it is something worth building.
It would violate basic honor for me to do that, and then fail to support you in your hour of need.
In Ethereum we protect our own, and uphold our honor.
Milady
Stefan George 🦉💳@StefanDGeorgeThe Tornado Cash team is amazingly talented and brought much-needed privacy to Ethereum. Hopefully, everyone will recognize again, that writing software is an expression of free speech and tech is neutral.
Brian Armstrong@brian_armstrongSanctioning a technology (as opposed to an individual or entity) seems like a bad precedent to me, and it should probably be challenged. Could have many downstream unintended consequences. #TornadoCashe.
Hayden Adams 🦄@haydenzadamsMy thoughts on the tornado situation:
1) Privacy is critical for a functional and safe society. Arguments that privacy is only for illegal activity are absurd/dangerous and reminds me of the people that want to make encryption illegal...
cairo@MichaelCairoFLthe doj must drop the case against @rstormsf developers of open-source noncustodial software should not be held criminally liable for third parties’ illicit downstream use of such software, especially when its code is immutable and the developers cannot control who uses it
bal0 (am a.wassie now, verse)@fiat_scareIf they go after the devs they also have to go after everyone that produces guns. Its 100% the same situation. "Not the tool is evil, but the ones who use it for evil things."
papiofficial ᛤ@shmulaI have personally known @rstormsf for the last 5+ years. He is an upstanding, kind person, massively talented, loves his family, and loves America and wants to innovate and build. I stand with Roman.
CryptoStatto@crypto_stattoTruly awful. This must be looked into. All software engineers could fall foul of this.
Paul Mak 🖖@UnbanktFinancial privacy is not a crime.
Writing code is not a crime and @rstormsf is not a criminal.
Criminalizing privacy tools, software development and their developers undermines innovation and freedom.
Protecting privacy is a value and should be rewarded, not prosecuted.
Matt Huang@matthuangParadigm will be donating $1.25M to help fund Roman Storm’s legal defense
The prosecution’s case threatens to hold software developers criminally liable for the bad acts of third parties, which would have a chilling effect in crypto and beyond
We must stand with @rstormsf
CoinDesk@CoinDeskThe @EFF is calling for the case against @rstormsf to be dismissed arguing that it might create a chilling effect that harms other privacy-preserving tools, @thesamreynolds writes.
Caoimhin Séis@caoimhinllc@realDonaldTrump @elonmusk time to take action on your campaign promises. Coding is simply writing instructions in a language a computer can understand. It is speech. MAGA is pro free speech, right? Right?
Seth For Privacy 🥪 | #FreeSamourai #FreeTC@sethforprivacyIf you really mean this @realDonaldTrump, you'll drop the ongoing persecution of @SamouraiWallet and @TornadoCash developers who created non-custodial privacy tools for Bitcoin and Ethereum.#FreeSamourai and #FreeRoman!
Jake Chervinsky@jchervinskyThe Biden DOJ’s unjust prosecution of @rstormsf is the single most important policy issue facing crypto today.
If the DOJ is allowed to imprison software developers who build non-custodial smart contract protocols, crypto dies in the USA.
The Trump DOJ must end this case now.
Ryan Singer@Ryan_Singer@rstormsf is a friend of mine and a great software engineer who was building critical infrastructure. This prosecution is unjust and every American should feel ashamed until it's ended.
Wendy O@CryptoWendyORoss is Free
Roman deserves to be FREE
Creating code should not be a crime when the person who created it did not break the law!
WeeThePeePill@WeeThePeePillYour prosecution violates the First Amendment and is out of line with public will. Stay strong, we support you and value your work. Hopefully the times are changing.
개꿀인생 🌪@DogHoney_LifeRoman Storm is the Satoshi Nakamoto of my world.
The Korean community and I will fight tirelessly for Roman Storm's freedom! ✌️
#Tornadocash #FreeRomanStorm
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerinYou created Tornado in significant part because of my suggestion that it is something worth building.
It would violate basic honor for me to do that, and then fail to support you in your hour of need.
In Ethereum we protect our own, and uphold our honor.
Milady
Stefan George 🦉💳@StefanDGeorgeThe Tornado Cash team is amazingly talented and brought much-needed privacy to Ethereum. Hopefully, everyone will recognize again, that writing software is an expression of free speech and tech is neutral.
Brian Armstrong@brian_armstrongSanctioning a technology (as opposed to an individual or entity) seems like a bad precedent to me, and it should probably be challenged. Could have many downstream unintended consequences. #TornadoCashe.
Hayden Adams 🦄@haydenzadamsMy thoughts on the tornado situation:
1) Privacy is critical for a functional and safe society. Arguments that privacy is only for illegal activity are absurd/dangerous and reminds me of the people that want to make encryption illegal...
cairo@MichaelCairoFLthe doj must drop the case against @rstormsf developers of open-source noncustodial software should not be held criminally liable for third parties’ illicit downstream use of such software, especially when its code is immutable and the developers cannot control who uses it
