Advocacy groups rally to support Tornado Cash developer

According to recent fillings, 3 top cryptocurrency advocacy organizations have confirmed they’re supporting Roman Storm, developer of crypto mixer Tornado Cash, facing accusations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). On April 5th, the Blockchain Association, Coin Center DeFi Education Fund each submitted amicus briefs supporting Storm’s petition to dismiss the accusations against him. 

Storm, an American citizen and one of the platform’s designers, was charged together with missing man Roman Semenov. Additionally, co-founder of the crypto mixer Alexey Pertsev is going through trial in the Netherlands. United States police arrested Storm for his involvement in Tornado Cash and charged him and other individuals with running an illegal money transfer company and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Tornado Cash not a money transmitter, says association

The Blockchain Association slammed the DOJ for describing Tornado Cash as being an illegal money-transmitting company. They claim the platform has no control over users ‘assets, despite FinCEN requirements, and shouldn’t be labeled as such. This particular viewpoint contests the legal foundation for one of the primary charges against Storm and its creators.

In comparison, the DeFi Education Fund challenged DOJ’s use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) in Storm. They state that interpreting IEEPA this way could disproportionally hold developers accountable for the way other people work with their software and may inhibit development in the application development sector. The Fund stated this interpretation of the IEEPA might have “devastating” effects.

Advocacy group argues against money laundering charge

Coin Center’s amicus brief dealt with the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge and argued Tornado Cash served as a privacy application instead of a route for unlawful activities. They compare car usage by crooks to computer usage and claim that the designers aren’t accountable for everything their users do. 

Additionally, Coin Center cited Tornado Cash’s developers for blocking known espionage actors from accessing its service. They assert that the move shows a commitment to responsible control and supervision, that goes against claims that developers were neutral regarding the usage of the platform.