The head of the DOJ's Criminal Division, Galeotti, said that open-source smart contract developers are not criminals if they have no malicious intent, igniting the debate over the Roman Storm case, with the community calling for the charges to be dropped.

Storm has just been convicted of unlicensed fund transfer, but the new guidance indicates that truly decentralized protocols are not held liable—doesn't this slap them in the face?

Connecting to the Tornado Cash case, it feels like the DOJ has softened under the Trump administration, making the crypto regulatory environment friendlier. In the future, Storm may win on appeal, giving DeFi developers a sigh of relief.

That said, this policy shift comes conveniently, in sync with the CFTC's crypto sprint plan, likely to spur more innovation. But caution is needed; malicious code still needs to be held accountable. Developers should play it safe, and market sentiment will likely become more bullish.