The United States’ legal action against crypto mixer Tornado Cash and its developer Roman Storm has been labelled as a “disregard for privacy” by DeFi Education Fund’s Amanda Tuminelli.
The DeFi Education Fund and Tuminelli, who leads the organization’s impact litigation and policy endeavours as its chief legal officer, recently filed an amicus brief challenging the government’s approach to holding software developers accountable for third-party misuse of their software.
They argued that this stance, which assigns criminal liability to developers even without direct involvement in illicit activities, represents a significant expansion of the law.
Tuminelli criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its opposition to Storm’s motion to dismiss charges, describing it as filled with “technical inaccuracies, obvious disdain for privacy and emerging technology, and misapplication of the law”.
She particularly called out the DOJ for misrepresenting Storm’s arguments, highlighting that the assertion that “misconduct through computer software is absolutely protected” and that crypto is “inherently beyond the reach of law enforcement” does not align with Storm’s actual motion.
Moreover, Tuminelli criticized prosecutors for what she perceived as a lack of understanding of immutable smart contract protocols. The DOJ’s filing suggested that Storm and co-founder Roman Semenov could have intervened in alleged unlawful activity on Tornado Cash but chose not to, a claim Tuminelli refuted.
Meanwhile, observers have noted that the DOJ’s arguments could have far-reaching implications for crypto and internet freedom. Specifically, the DOJ argued that the definition of money transmitting under U.S. law doesn’t require the transmitter to have “control” of the transferred funds, potentially expanding the scope of money transmission.
Despite these developments, some experts maintain cautious optimism. Crypto-focused lawyer Gabriel Shapiro expressed little concern about the DOJ’s arguments, believing that the case would ultimately focus on the actions of relayers and the Tornado Cash (TORN) token.
Storm’s trial is scheduled for September 2024.
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