🌪 **TORN**
**Tornado Cash Trial: A Case That Could Decide the Future of Privacy in Crypto**
The trial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm is concluding in New York. Prosecutors are seeking up to 40 years in prison. A jury verdict is expected in the coming days.
**What’s Happening?**
- **Charges:**
- Money laundering.
- Sanctions violations (including those related to North Korea).
- Operating as an unlicensed money transmitter.
- **Prosecution’s Argument:**
- "Tornado Cash isn’t about privacy—it’s about bags of dirty money."
- The protocol allegedly processed $1,000,000,000 in laundered funds, including $350,000,000 from Lazarus Group (North Korea).
- Prosecutors claim the team could have implemented filtering but chose not to.
- Decentralization was superficial—the team retained control over the UI and source code.
- **Defense’s Argument:**
- "Roman Storm is not a criminal but an open-source protocol developer."
- Tornado Cash was built for ordinary users’ privacy, not hackers.
- The team discussed address blacklisting after the Ronin and Harmony attacks.
- Code is a form of free speech, not a crime.
- **Why This Matters:**
- The verdict could set a precedent: holding developers accountable for how their code is used.
- Risk: Developers in the U.S. may fear working on private DeFi protocols.
