{"id":86650,"date":"2025-08-07T08:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T08:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=86650"},"modified":"2025-08-07T08:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T08:19:09","slug":"tornado-cash-founder-convicted-of-unlicensed-money-transmitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=86650","title":{"rendered":"Tornado Cash Founder Convicted of Unlicensed Money Transmitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roman Storm, one of the minds behind Tornado Cash, has been found guilty<\/a> by a Manhattan jury for running an unlicensed money transmitting business. The decision came after four weeks of testimony and debate. The charge alone could land him behind bars for up to five years. But this was just one part of a much bigger legal battle, and the rest of it isn\u2019t over yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jury Deadlocks on the Bigger Accusations<\/span><\/h2>\n

Storm was also facing accusations of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions, but the jury couldn\u2019t reach a verdict on those. Both of those charges come with much heavier consequences, up to 20 years each if convicted. Since no final decision was reached, prosecutors may decide to bring those charges back to court for a retrial. His sentencing for the conviction that <\/span>did go<\/span> through hasn\u2019t been scheduled yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tornado Cash trial has concluded.<\/p>\n

Roman Storm has been found guilty of the conspiracy to operate an unlicensed MTB charge.<\/p>\n

Here are my thoughts on the outcome, the government\u2019s (rejected) motion to remand Storm, and what comes next. pic.twitter.com\/T41TtEL9Kh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Frank Corva (@frankcorva) August 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Prosecutors Say Storm Helped Criminals Cover Their Tracks<\/span><\/h2>\n

Federal prosecutors didn\u2019t pull punches. They argued that Tornado Cash wasn\u2019t just a privacy tool, but a direct pipeline for dirty money to be cleaned. According to them, over a billion dollars moved through the mixer, much of it tied to criminals, scammers, and even North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group. The message from the government was clear: you can\u2019t build a tool and turn a blind eye when it gets used by the worst actors online.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Defense Says It Was Just Code<\/span><\/h2>\n

Storm\u2019s lawyers pushed back hard, arguing that he <\/span>simply<\/span> wrote code and published it as open-source software.<\/span> In their view, it was no different than someone writing a tool that could be used for good or bad, and then stepping away from it. They said Storm never had control over who used it or for what purpose and wasn\u2019t personally profiting from any of the activity prosecutors pointed to.<\/span><\/p>\n

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24h<\/span>7d<\/span>30d<\/span>1y<\/span>All time<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Evidence Painted a Complicated Picture<\/span><\/h2>\n

During the trial, prosecutors brought out forensic data and witness testimony that tied Tornado Cash to stolen crypto. One scammer testified that he used it to launder NFT proceeds. They even showed jurors Tornado Cash t-shirts with cartoon washing machines on them, hinting at the platform\u2019s use as a digital money launderer. But despite all that, jurors still couldn\u2019t unanimously say Storm was guilty of laundering or breaking sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Big Implications for Developers<\/span><\/h2>\n

The outcome has sparked a new wave of anxiety among developers. If building open-source tools can lead to prison time, where do you draw the line? Plenty of crypto apps and protocols can be used for shady purposes, but are devs on the hook if bad actors show up? This case is adding fuel to a much bigger conversation about how far legal responsibility extends in decentralized environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just One Case in a Larger Crackdown<\/span><\/h2>\n

Storm isn\u2019t the only one under fire. His fellow Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev, was convicted earlier this year in the Netherlands. And in the U.S., the people behind the Samourai Wallet mixer recently pleaded guilty to laundering hundreds of millions in illicit crypto. Regulators and law enforcement <\/span>clearly<\/span> aren\u2019t letting this stuff slide anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Comes Next<\/span><\/h2>\n

Storm now faces sentencing, plus the possibility of another trial for the unresolved charges. His legal team plans to challenge the outcome. Whether or not the government retries the heavier counts, this case will likely stay in the spotlight. It\u2019s become a benchmark for how the justice system approaches tools built for privacy but used by criminals. And for now, the line between developer and enabler remains blurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Join The 99Bitcoins News Discord Here For The Latest Market Updates<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n

Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm was convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and faces up to five years in prison. <\/p>\n

The jury could not reach a verdict on the more serious charges of money laundering and sanctions violations, which may be retried later. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors argued that Tornado Cash helped criminals, including North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group, launder over $1 billion in crypto. <\/p>\n

Storm\u2019s defense maintained he simply wrote and published open-source code, without controlling or profiting from how it was used. <\/p>\n

The verdict has raised serious concerns for crypto developers about potential legal risks when building privacy tools used by bad actors. <\/p><\/div>\n

The post Tornado Cash Founder Convicted of Unlicensed Money Transmitting<\/a> appeared first on 99Bitcoins<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roman Storm, one of the minds behind Tornado Cash, has been found guilty by a Manhattan jury for running an unlicensed money transmitting business. The decision came after four weeks of testimony and debate. The charge alone could land him behind bars for up to five years. But this was just one part of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}