- The DeFi education fund requests that prosecuting the Tornado Cash developer risks the future of crypto innovation in the US.
- The group further adds that it also strengthens politically motivated enforcement and keeps every open-source developer at risk.
The DeFi education fund has requested the Trump administration to put a stop to what it describes as the lawless prosecution against open-source software developers such as Roman Storm, one of the founders of Tornado Cash.
The education fund wrote a letter to White House crypto czar David Sacks on April 28, requesting President Donald Trump to take quick action to stop the Department of Justice’s lawless campaign to criminalize open-source software development introduced by the Biden administration.
The letter mainly focused on the prosecution of Storm, who was charged in August 2023 with aiding in laundering more than $1 billion in crypto with the help of Tornado Cash. The trial is set for July 2025.
Also, the group mentioned that the Department of Justice is trying to hold developers criminally responsible for how others use their code in the case of Storm. However, this is bizarre in principle, and it also sets an example that potentially slows down all crypto development in the nation.
Open-Source Developers Are At Risk
They also asked for the identification that the prosecution contradicts the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance from the first term of Trump, which determined that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters.
The letter further adds that it also strengthens politically motivated enforcement and keeps every open-source developer at risk, no matter from which industry they are. This January, a federal court in Texas passed a judgment that the Treasury exceeded its authority after sanctioning Tornado Cash.
The education fund commended Trump for supporting the industry and his target to make the US a crypto capital of the globe. They mentioned that his goal can’t be achieved if developers are brought to trial for building tools that empower technology.
The chief legal officer of Variant Fund, Jake Chervinsky, says that the case of the Justice Department vs. Storm is an outdated relic of the Biden administration’s war on crypto.
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