{"id":6646,"date":"2026-03-10T14:17:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/tornado-cashs-roman-storm-could-face-40-years-as-government-seeks-new-trial\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:17:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:17:35","slug":"tornado-cashs-roman-storm-could-face-40-years-as-government-seeks-new-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/tornado-cashs-roman-storm-could-face-40-years-as-government-seeks-new-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Tornado Cash\u2019s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Tornado Cash\u2019s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan want another chance to convict Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, asking a judge to schedule a retrial this October on two criminal counts where jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision last year.<\/p>\n

The request, filed<\/a> Monday in the Southern District of New York, would reopen one of the most consequential legal battles over the boundaries of software development and criminal liability in the cryptocurrency industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case centers on Tornado Cash<\/a>, a decentralized crypto mixer designed to obscure the origin and destination of blockchain transactions.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors argue<\/a> the tool enabled large-scale illicit finance. Storm and his supporters argue the government is attempting to criminalize open-source code.<\/p>\n

Storm\u2019s first trial ended in August with a mixed outcome<\/a>. A Manhattan jury convicted him of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business but deadlocked on two other charges: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.<\/p>\n

Those unresolved counts carry the heaviest penalties. A conviction on both could expose Storm to as much as 40 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n

In their letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, prosecutors said a retrial date should be set now to avoid scheduling delays. They proposed a start in early or mid-October and estimated a new trial would last about three weeks.<\/p>\n

Storm remains free on bail while the case continues.<\/p>\n

A mixed policy shift in Washington<\/h2>\n

The retrial request arrives during a shift in the federal government\u2019s public posture toward digital assets.<\/p>\n

Last year, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche circulated a memo<\/a> stating that the Justice Department \u201cis not a digital assets regulator.\u201d The guidance instructed prosecutors to avoid cases that attempt to impose regulatory frameworks through criminal charges against platforms, wallets, and similar infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The memo also cautioned against targeting developers for the conduct of users who interact with decentralized tools.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has softened its language around privacy tools on public blockchains. In a March 2026 report<\/a> to Congress under the GENIUS Act, Treasury acknowledged that digital asset mixers can serve legitimate purposes.<\/p>\n

According to the report, lawful users may rely on such tools to shield sensitive financial information, including personal wealth, business payments, charitable donations, and consumer spending patterns.<\/p>\n

Storm helped create Tornado Cash in 2019 as a privacy protocol for the Ethereum network. Unlike custodial mixers, the protocol operates through smart contracts rather than a centralized service operator.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities have argued the tool facilitated more than $1 billion in illicit transactions, including activity tied<\/a> to the North Korean hacking group known as the Lazarus Group.<\/p>\n

Roman Storm: Making code a crime<\/h2>\n

Storm\u2019s defense maintains that developers cannot control how decentralized software is used after deployment.<\/p>\n

In a post on X following news of the retrial request, Storm said<\/a> the first jury heard four weeks of evidence before failing to reach consensus on the two most serious charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cA jury of 12 Americans heard four weeks of evidence and deadlocked,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNo verdict on money laundering. No verdict on sanctions violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storm framed the retrial effort as an attempt to redefine the legal status of code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s response?\u201d he wrote. \u201cTry again to make writing code a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post Tornado Cash\u2019s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Micah Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine Tornado Cash\u2019s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial Federal prosecutors in Manhattan want another chance to convict Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, asking a judge to schedule a retrial this October on two criminal counts where jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision last year. The request, filed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}