DOJ Rejects Roman Storm’s Plea as Tornado Cash Verdict Will Stand

Federal prosecutors have filed a 113-page temporary asking U.S. District Decide Katherine Polk Failla to disclaim Roman Storm’s movement to overturn his August 2025 conviction for illegally working a cash transmission enterprise.

The jury was deadlocked on the time on two extra severe costs: cash laundering and sanctions evasion.

DOJ advocates “practical authority,” not decentralization

Prosecutors argue that the proof in opposition to Storm was overwhelming and emphasize that they consider he and the co-defendants retained practical authority over Twister Money, regardless of claims that the platform was decentralized in nature.

In August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Division’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) sanctioned Twister Money, accusing it of facilitating greater than $7 billion in unlawful cryptocurrency laundering, together with funds linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Associated: 4,920 ETH value $16.25 million withdrawn from Twister Money as Ethereum falls 13% this week

Curiously, the case is now seen by many as a serious one that can decide whether or not the makers of privateness instruments might be held criminally liable, even when they by no means really personal or management their customers’ cash.

If the courts insist that deploying or sustaining code is equal to operating a cash transmission enterprise, it may trigger main authorized issues for the builders of privateness instruments and crypto mixers.

What’s Twister Money?

Twister Money is an Ethereum-based privateness mixer launched in 2019 by builders Roman Storm, Roman Semenov, and Alexey Pertsev.

It makes use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-SNARKs) to utterly separate the sender from the receiver on the blockchain. A person can deposit cash right into a shared pool after which withdraw the identical quantity to a model new pockets tackle, leaving no public document linking the 2 transactions.

Not like custodial mixers, Twister Money designed itself as a totally non-custodial, automated protocol, which means builders claimed they’d no management over person funds. At its peak, Twister Money dealt with greater than $1 billion in month-to-month quantity throughout market highs, attracting each privacy-seeking customers and criminals seeking to conceal their tracks.

For the crypto market, the case in opposition to Twister Money, or relatively Roman Storm, creates new authorized dangers for tasks centered on privateness, coin mixers and DeFi. This growth is more likely to each impression investor confidence and alter the way in which builders construct all these companies sooner or later.

Associated: US Court docket Overturns Sanctions on Crypto Mixer Twister Money