Tornado cash founders charged with money laundering/sanctions violations

[bbc.reporter]

Roman Storm's going to fight his case in the court he's got a good lawyer who's defending him. I don't know what's happened to Samourai or it's devs you shouldn't say things about them if you don't know it's true.

This has shown that Roman has not agreed to become a government informant, not very much like the developers of Samourai wallet who the opensource privacy community and the cryptospace community should not now trust.

I am only speculating that they have become government informants, however, we have witnessed this before where detained people are tricked and forced to make deals with the government.

It is a speculation as I have mentioned already. Also, these people behind the government do not offer deals to people who are being imprisoned, prosecuted or people who they consider criminals without having something in exchange.

Also, do we not already know that the government is going after different projects and developers of privacy software in the cryptospace? Do you reckon the government will not do dirty tactics to complete their mission? We should not be naive about this.

[bbc.reporter]

News update!

Similar to what was speculated, it appears that Roman Storm will be going to round 2 according to this article heheheh. This will very much show and encourage other development teams that they should fight for there rights and fight against cases that will create bad precedents. The government on the illegal money transmitting case and the jury decision on this are wrong! Tornado Cash is not a money transmitter.



The Tornado Cash co-founder may still be reeling from his three-week courtroom drama that culminated in a guilty verdict of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business, but he’s already scooping up donations to mount an appeal.

Storm’s lawyer Keri Axel, has confirmed that they’ll appeal the verdict.

The Ethereum Foundation offered another $500,000 donation to fund Storm’s appeal on Thursday, according to its official X account.

“Privacy is normal and writing code is not a crime,” the account tweeted.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was among major donors who added nearly $5 million into Storm’s war chest ahead of the trial.

Read in full https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/roman-storm-is-collecting-money-to-mount-appeal/

[arabspaceship123]

If Roman Storm's asking for donations to pay his lawyers fee he's going to get many ppl donating. They're donating because they want privacy to win they're saying they've got rights to have privacy. His case isn't over he'll fight in court it's going to be a long legal fight.

[Dave1]

If Roman Storm's asking for donations to pay his lawyers fee he's going to get many ppl donating. They're donating because they want privacy to win they're saying they've got rights to have privacy. His case isn't over he'll fight in court it's going to be a long legal fight.

You're right, and as what we have seen, the donations come for Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik himself as they know that this case is very important for them.

As the litigation targets developers for code misuse? So let's see, for sure this case are going to drag for years and hopefully he lawyers will need to appeal right away. It's a mixed verdict to there is a still a chance for Storm not to go to jail and spend his live inside in 5 years. So let's hope that he will still get acquitted and judge ruling out against the earlier conviction.

[bbc.reporter]

If Roman Storm's asking for donations to pay his lawyers fee he's going to get many ppl donating. They're donating because they want privacy to win they're saying they've got rights to have privacy. His case isn't over he'll fight in court it's going to be a long legal fight.

On Paradigm and the Ethereum Foundation's donations, they are doing this because they are very much aware that the government is clearly wrong. The government has used manipulative tactics for this trial where the prosecutors were telling the defenses that using privacy as a reason for the motivation of creating Tornado Cash was not allowed. They clearly wanted to manipulate the jury into speculating that Roman Storm is a moneylaunderer. This is the distortion of reality and this case, if the government asks for a retrial on the deadlocked charges, should not be allowed.

[arabspaceship123]

Roman Storm's got bail so he's going to fight the case with access to his lawyers night & day. If he wasn't given bail he'd be inside jail so he wouldn't be allowed to meet his lawyers unless it's in visiting hours. The donation's will give him belief he's got many ppl supporting him.

You're right, and as what we have seen, the donations come for Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik himself as they know that this case is very important for them.

As the litigation targets developers for code misuse? So let's see, for sure this case are going to drag for years and hopefully he lawyers will need to appeal right away. It's a mixed verdict to there is a still a chance for Storm not to go to jail and spend his live inside in 5 years. So let's hope that he will still get acquitted and judge ruling out against the earlier conviction.

[bbc.reporter]

It appears that creators of many DeFi platforms and other types of decentralized projects in the cryptospace are presently safe from harassment from the government under the administration of the Donald. This very much is an approval for institutional investors to buy different types of DeFi tokens for their digital asset treasuries.

I will not be shocked to witness the next big market bubble in the cryptospace to be caused by digital asset treasuries.



Weeks after Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm was convicted on a money transmission charge, a Department of Justice official said the agency would reject similar charges going forward.

“Where the evidence shows that software is truly decentralised and solely automates peer to peer transactions, and where a third-party does not have custody and control over user assets, new [money transmission] charges against a third party will not be approved,” Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general of the department’s Justice Criminal Division, said Thursday.

“If criminal intent is present, other charges may be appropriate.”

Read in full https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/devs-of-decentralised-protocols-wont-be-prosecuted-doj-says/

[bbc.reporter]

This very much might encourage open source developers from America that have migrated to other countries that have been more welcoming to developers to move again back to America to continue developing their crypto startups.

Much of the talented developers are presently Singapore or in Dubai, leaving less talent in America. If the Donald wants America to be the leader in blockchain technology, there should be laws to protect these developers.



Crypto industry calls for new bill to protect DeFi devs following Tornado Cash founder conviction

Protect developers from being prosecuted like Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm, or risk choking crypto innovation in the US.

That’s essentially the message of a letter sent by a group of 115 crypto firms, builders, investors, and advocates to the Senate Committee on Banking, and Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday.

The letter urges lawmakers to introduce provisions into the Clarity Act to shield open-source developers from being misclassified or prosecuted as operators of money transmitting businesses.

Read in full https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/crypto-industry-calls-for-clarity-act-to-protect-defi-devs-after-tornado-cash-conviction/

[arabspaceship123]

If they are not doing illegal acts they should not be arrested. If developers are scared to work in teams which hire in America they will go to a country which does not arrest them for making software for crypto users.

This very much might encourage open source developers from America that have migrated to other countries that have been more welcoming to developers to move again back to America to continue developing their crypto startups.

Much of the talented developers are presently Singapore or in Dubai, leaving less talent in America. If the Donald wants America to be the leader in blockchain technology, there should be laws to protect these developers.