Leading American cryptocurrency advocacy group filed amicus briefs pleading with the judge to drop the charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm. Tornado Cash is accused of having no control over what it sent and kept on its network by the Blockchain Association, Coin Center, and DeFi Education Fund.
Additionally, they addressed the First Amendment concerns raised by the alleged violations of penalties and the ambiguity of smart contracts. Advocacy organizations contested the felony charges against Storm in court filings on April 5, pointing to possible consequences for the fintech industry and the digital asset market should the government’s claims turn out to be accurate.
Tory, who has maintained her innocence on all charges at every turn, has been released on a $2 million bail until the case’s full trial in September. The matter is being handled by Tornado Cash, which is also linked to a blacklist of cryptocurrencycurrency wallet addresses maintained by the US Treasury.
The developer of Tornado Cash, Nikolai Dreduk, was detained for nine months prior to his release by the Dutch authorities in August 2022. The owner of the mixer, Chaepil, is suspected by Dutch police of utilizing the mixer for money laundering purposes and of having connections to North Korean hacker groups.
