Tornado Cash Founder Speaks Out on Money Laundering Accusations
Дата: 2025-01-27 Автор: Henry Casey Категорії: БІЗНЕС
On January 22, Roman Storm, one of the founders of Tornado Cash, spoke out about his ongoing criminal trial for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The trial is related to the development and operation of Tornado Cash, a tool for ensuring the privacy of cryptocurrency transactions. In a post on the X platform, Storm called the charges an attempt to criminally prosecute software developers for creating and maintaining open-source code used for anonymous transfers.
Storm has reportedly spent over a million dollars on his legal defense, but he will continue to fight the charges. In the post, he said he faces up to 45 years in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitter business, participating in a money laundering conspiracy, and evading sanctions. Storm stressed that the case could set a dangerous precedent for other developers in the cryptocurrency industry.
Many in the blockchain community have backed him, including lawyer Keri Axle and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who called the sanctions against Tornado Cash illegal and unconstitutional. Additional support came from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who said he supported Storm because he himself advised the development of Tornado Cash. In response to the accusations against Tornado Cash, Buterin noted the importance of protecting developers in the crypto industry.
Observers believe that the charges may be dropped, citing the recent case of US President Donald Trump, who pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road, an online black market. Some experts believe that the chances of a more lenient decision for Storm may increase under the Trump administration, especially given his recent decisions aimed at protecting private transactions.
However, the Tornado Cash case is not unique. Many other privacy-focused projects have faced legal challenges, such as the charges against the creators of Samourai Wallet, a wallet that was also used for anonymous crypto transfers, and recent government actions against projects like Bitcoin Fog and Chip Mixer. Critics of these cases argue that the charges against the developers of these services are unfounded, as their purpose is simply to ensure user privacy, not to facilitate money laundering.
As a result of the ongoing pressure on such projects, analysts have reported a significant decrease in liquidity in the markets for privacy-related cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Zcash, as crypto exchanges increasingly delist these assets.
The current situation with privacy projects raises questions about the future of such tools under crypto regulation, especially in light of possible policy changes under the new presidential administration.
