Tornado Cash Co-Founder Storm Faces US Trial Over Money Laundering Charges

Roman Storm, a co-founder and developer of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, recently appeared in a video interview as his criminal trial in the United States is set to commence in less than two weeks. In the interview, Storm's legal team indicated their intention to address allegations that he personally profited from illicit funds through his involvement with Tornado Cash. However, Storm himself was noncommittal about whether he would testify in his own defense against charges of money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter, and conspiracy to violate US sanctions.

Storm stated that the decision to take the stand would be made closer to the trial date, leaving his plans for testimony unclear. "This is the decision that we will make," Storm said. "I don’t have a 100% answer right now. I may or may not."

Storm was indicted by US authorities in 2023, approximately a year after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned addresses linked to Tornado Cash. The government agency alleged that the mixing service had been used to launder cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-based hackers, the Lazarus Group. Another Tornado Cash developer, Roman Semenov, who was named in the same indictment as Storm, remains at large. Meanwhile, Alexey Pertsev, another co-founder and developer, was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands and sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Since his arrest, Storm has garnered significant support from the cryptocurrency industry, with many viewing his indictment as an attack on developers and privacy. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Paradigm founder Matt Huang, and the Ethereum Foundation have all contributed to Storm’s legal fund, which has reportedly exceeded $750,000. Storm expressed the mental toll the case has taken on him, stating, "I’ve got a lot of mental damage from this case, obviously. It’s so damaging [...] you believed in one thing, you believed that there is a [sic] common sense, there is a misunderstanding, and you’re getting this [sic] harsh things going on in your life. I would definitely need to recover myself for some time to get back into what I love."

Storm's trial is scheduled to begin on July 14 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The outcome of this trial could set a precedent for how the U.S. handles open-source software developers, particularly in the context of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance platforms. The case underscores the complex interplay between technology, regulation, and criminal law, and highlights the need for clear guidelines on the responsibilities of software developers in the digital age.