Crypto Advocates Urge President Trump to Halt Prosecution of Tornado Cash Developer.
The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a leading crypto advocacy group, has formally urged President Donald Trump to intervene in the legal case against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm. In a letter sent on April 28 to the President's crypto advisor, David Sacks, DEF called for an end to what it describes as a “lawless campaign” against open-source software developers initiated under the previous administration.
Roman Storm is currently facing charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, including conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitter. The DOJ alleges that Tornado Cash—a decentralized crypto mixing protocol—was used to launder over $1 billion, including funds tied to North Korean hackers. His trial is scheduled for July 2025.
DEF argues that prosecuting developers for building open-source, self-custodial technology threatens the future of innovation in the U.S. crypto space. The group points to FinCEN guidance from Trump’s first term, which stated that developers of peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters under U.S. law.
The letter has gained support from major crypto industry leaders, including Coinbase, Paradigm, and several Ethereum developers, who see this case as a dangerous precedent that could stifle open-source contributions.
As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, the outcome of this case could significantly impact the future of Web3 development and how U.S. law treats decentralized technologies.
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