DeFi Lobby Urges Trump Admin to Halt Prosecution of Tornado Cash Developer

The DeFi Education Fund, a prominent crypto policy advocacy group, has called on the Trump administration to intervene in what it describes as the “lawless prosecution” of open-source software developers.

The appeal centers on the ongoing case against Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, a decentralized crypto mixer.

In a letter dated April 28 and addressed to White House crypto advisor David Sacks, the group urged President Donald Trump to halt what it called a Biden-era Department of Justice (DOJ) campaign that unfairly targets software developers.

Storm was indicted in August 2023 for allegedly aiding in the laundering of more than $1 billion through Tornado Cash.

His trial is scheduled for July, while his co-founder, Roman Semenov, remains at large, reportedly in Russia.

The DeFi Education Fund argues that holding developers criminally liable for how others use their open-source code is a dangerous precedent.

“This is not only absurd in principle,” the letter stated, “but it sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.”

The group also claimed the DOJ’s actions conflict with earlier guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), issued during Trump’s first term.

That guidance clarified that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not considered money transmitters and should not be subject to such regulations.

“This kind of legal environment does not just chill innovation — it freezes it,” the letter warned. “It empowers politically-motivated enforcement and puts every open-source developer at risk.”

Supporters of the petition include industry leaders such as Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko. At the time of writing, 232 signatures had been collected.

2/ The Biden-era DOJ sought to criminalize open-source software development. Look no further than the prosecution of @rstormsf in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

We have a real opportunity to shift course under the Trump administration, and we must act swiftly to… pic.twitter.com/6sEe0iISZN

The DeFi Education Fund praised Trump for his pro-crypto stance and his pledge to position the U.S. as a global hub for digital assets.

But the group emphasized that such goals will be impossible to achieve if developers face criminal prosecution for building non-custodial tools.

Variant Fund’s chief legal officer Jake Chervinsky echoed the sentiment, calling the DOJ’s case against Storm “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,” Chervinsky said.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov in August 2023, accusing them of helping launder over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, including funds linked to North Korean hacker group Lazarus.

Semenov, a Russian national, remains a fugitive. Tornado Cash’s third co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022 and is currently in pre-trial detention.

In 2022, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash, citing its role in enabling anonymous cryptocurrency transactions.

The agency acted after Tornado Cash facilitated the laundering of over $7b in virtual currency since 2019.

The sanctions targeted Tornado Cash for failing to implement strong controls against misuse by cybercriminals.

Despite its public focus on privacy, the platform was repeatedly used to launder cybercrime proceeds.

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