Crypto Lobby Urges Trump to Halt Prosecution of Tornado Cash Developer

The crypto lobby group, the DeFi Education Fund, has petitioned the Trump administration to end what it claimed was the “lawless prosecution” of open-source software developers, including Roman Storm, a creator of the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash.

In an April 28 letter to White House crypto czar David Sacks, the group urged President Donald Trump “to take immediate action to discontinue the Biden-era Department of Justice's lawless campaign to criminalize open-source software development.” The letter specifically mentioned the prosecution of Storm, who was charged in August 2023 with helping launder over $1 billion in crypto through Tornado Cash. His trial is still set for July, and his fellow charged co-founder, Roman Semenov, is at large and believed to be in Russia.

The DeFi Education Fund said that in Storm’s case, the Department of Justice is attempting to hold software developers criminally liable for how others use their code, which is “not only absurd in principle, but it sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.” The group also called for the recognition that the prosecution contradicts the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance from Trump’s first term, which established that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters.

“This kind of legal environment does not just chill innovation — it freezes it,” they argued. The letter added that it also “empowers politically-motivated enforcement and puts every open-source developer at risk, regardless of industry.” In January, a federal court in Texas ruled that the Treasury overstepped its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash.

The group thanked Trump for his support of the industry and his stated goal to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.” They added, however, that his goal can’t be realized if developers are prosecuted for building tools that enable the technology. “We ask President Trump to protect American software developers, restore legal clarity, and end this unlawful DOJ overreach. The job’s not finished, and the stakes could not be higher.”

Variant Fund chief legal officer Jake Chervinsky said the Justice Department’s case against Storm is “an outdated remnant of the Biden administration's war on crypto.” “There is no justification in law or policy for prosecuting software developers for launching non-custodial smart contract protocols,” he added. At the time of writing, the petition had attracted 232 signatures from industry executives and developers, including Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko, among others.

The petition's impact remains to be seen, but it has already sparked a lively debate within the crypto community. Advocates hope that the Trump administration will take heed of their concerns and work towards a more balanced approach to regulating the crypto space. The outcome of this petition could set a precedent for how future legal actions against crypto developers are handled, potentially shaping the industry's regulatory landscape for years to come.