Tornado Cash Cofounder Files Motion to Drop Charges

Roman Storm, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of charges levied against him. Storm, who was arrested and charged with a number of offenses connected to his actions in starting the Tornado Cash platform, has presented a lot of legal defenses to cover the accusations.

Among the defenses raised, the right under the First Amendment to free speech is a key part of the argument, which suggests that the practice of writing code is protected under this constitutional provision.

Storm was charged with conspiracy to money laundering, conspiracy to breach the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, and conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business. All of these charges are highly punishable, with the harshest being imprisonment up to twenty years. Meanwhile, Storm’s legal team claims that the indictment is fatally defective, arguing that the software development carried out by Storm and his colleagues was a legal exercise of their First Amendment liberties.

Legal Arguments and Challenges to the Indictment

The motion filed by Storm’s legal team raises many key points in order to challenge the underlying basis of the charges. The defense submits that Tornado Cash cannot be characterized as a “money transmitting business” as defined by the indictment, because the users of the service had control over their funds and were not charged direct fees by Tornado Cash. 

In addition, the application challenges the likelihood of conspiracy, as the co-founders of Tornado Cash had already handed over the management of smart contracts of the platform long before the alleged criminal actions occurred.

The defense also underlined the fact that there was no direct relation between Storm and the later users of the Tornado Cash platform for illegal schemes. The defense argues this point as crucial to the claim that he, Storm, cannot be held liable in the eyes of the law for others who independently decided to use the software which he and his team developed.

Community Response

The case regarding Roman Storm and the rest of the Tornado Cash developers caught a lot of attention among the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) communities.

The lawsuits of these developers, including the one of Alexey Pertsev, who is under arrest in the Netherlands, have caused discussions about the responsibilities of open-source software developers and the jurisdiction of regulators in the sphere of digital currencies.

The cryptocurrency community has rallied in support of the accused developers, with nearly $1.5 million raised for a legal defense fund. This fund aims to support the developers in their legal battles against charges that many in the community view as a threat to the principles of privacy, innovation, and freedom of expression that underpin the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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