The co-founder of Tornado Cash, Roman stormasks a US federal judge to drop criminal charges against you.
in a motion filed Dec. 18 in Manhattan district court, Storm noted that the appeals court ruled that Tornado Cash smart contracts cannot be considered “property” of a foreign entity.
The court affirmed that these contracts, which are autonomous and cannot be modified, are not subject to sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Storm’s lawyers say This finding directly impacts his charge of conspiring to violate the IEEPA..
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The Fifth Circuit ruling also emphasized that the creators of Tornado Cash had no control over how the protocol was used. The court noted that anyone, including bad actors, could use the protocol. According to the court:
Mr. Storm couldn’t choose to stop them any more than he could choose to stop the sun from rising.
The motion also addresses other allegations against Stormincluding engaging in money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.
your lawyers They argue that there was no agreement to commit money laundering.since the alleged conspiracy began months after the protocol could no longer be modified. They also say that these charges are not valid because Tornado Cash has not functioned as a financial institution since it became immutable in May 2020.
The legal dispute over Tornado Cash began when six of its users, backed by Coinbase
$8.02 billion
challenged the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions in 2022. While they initially lost, the appeals court later did so in November 2024. What was the legal battle like? Read the full story.
Having completed a master’s degree in Economics, Politics and Cultures of the East Asian region, Aaron has written scientific articles analyzing the differences between Western and collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.
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