Roman Storm
Roman Storm is a Russian born, US based developer and co-founder of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that blurs the trail of digital payments. The software was open and ran on the Ethereum blockchain, so nobody, including its makers, could shut it down. The US Treasury sanctioned it in August 2022 after it was used to launder money, including by North Korean hackers. Storm was arrested and charged on 23 August 2023.
In August 2025 a New York jury convicted him on one count of conspiring to run an unlicensed money transmitting business and could not agree on the money laundering and sanctions counts. A motion to acquit was argued in April 2026 and has not been decided. A retrial on the unresolved counts has been set for 26 April 2027. His case is still open.
The Charge
The government charged him with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate US sanctions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The first two carry up to twenty years each. Prosecutors said Tornado Cash was a laundering service whose creators knew it was being used for crime and kept running it.
The Case For
Defenders say he wrote code, and that writing software is speech, not crime: he never held anyone's money. In November 2024 the Fifth Circuit ruled that the immutable smart contracts at the centre of Tornado Cash were not property that the sanctions authority could block, and in March 2025 the Treasury lifted the sanctions. Privacy advocates fear that if he is guilty, any developer of any neutral tool can be held responsible for what strangers do with it.
The Case Against
Prosecutors say the line between tool and service was crossed: the team ran a website and a company, promoted the product, and kept going after being told it was moving stolen funds, including from North Korea's Lazarus Group. They say a legal obligation to follow money transmitter rules does not disappear because the business is written in code. A jury agreed on one count.
Where Do You Stand?
If you build a lock that cannot be opened by anyone, are you responsible for every burglar who uses it? Where does a neutral tool become a service, and who decides? In another country, Alexey Pertsev was sentenced in 2024 over the same software.
Where do you stand?