The criminal case of Roman Storm, the developer of the Ethereum currency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, is about to open in New York in early December. He faces three major charges, including participating in money laundering, conspiring to operate an unlicensed fund transmission business, and violating international sanctions regulations. If convicted of all three charges, Storm faces up to 45 years in prison. These cases will have a profound impact on the future of DeFi and cryptocurrency privacy tools. (Previous summary: The Elegy of Open Source Software" The founder of the currency mixer Tornado Cash was sentenced to 64 months in prison and found guilty of money laundering) (Background supplement: The founder of the currency mixer Tornado Cash is likely to be sentenced to 64 months in prison! Dutch prosecutors: He created Global money laundering hotbed) The criminal case of developer Roman Storm will be tried in New York on December 2. He participated in the development of the Ethereum currency mixing protocol Tornado Cash and was charged with money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed fund transmission business, and violations of international Sanctions regulations. If convicted on all three charges, Storm faces up to 45 years in prison. Tornado Cash founder and developer Alexey Pertsev was also convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands on May 14 this year. The judge followed the prosecutor's recommendation and sentenced Pertsev to 64 months in prison. Another developer, Roman Semenov, also faced three charges against Storm last August for his role in the development of the privacy mixer. Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss, Case Will Go to Trial According to Coindesk, during a telephone hearing on Thursday, Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Storm’s motion to dismiss the criminal charges. Storm's defense team argued that he merely wrote the code for Tornado Cash and should not be held responsible for subsequent illegal conduct. However, Judge Failla found this argument insufficient to overturn the DOJ's charges and ruled that there was sufficient basis for the case to proceed to trial. Moving Zone Supplement: The decision to proceed to trial shows that the prosecutors or the FBI believe that the case involves a major crime and are fully confident of the success of the prosecution, so the case is not dismissed by the court. The judge noted: "At this stage, the court cannot simply accept Mr Storm's contention that he is being sued solely for writing code.If the jury accepts this, he will be acquitted. But I cannot legally make a judgment based on this. ” Background of the case: Code and North Korean hackers The root of this case is that the U.S. Department of Justice accused the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group of using the Tornado Cash code written by Storm to conduct money laundering activities. Prosecutors accuse the group of laundering more than $1 billion through Tornado Cash, including proceeds from multiple cyberattacks. However, Storm's lawyers argued that he was merely the author of the code and had no involvement in or knowledge of its illegal uses. However, the judge noted during Thursday's hearing that under the law, Storm could still face money laundering charges even if he had no knowledge of Tornado Cash's illegal uses. She explained: "Current law clearly states that for money laundering offenses, the defendant does not need to know, participate in or know the specific details of the illegal activity." This situation is relatively rare in the legal world, because there have been few cases in the past involving developers who have committed misconduct due to third parties. Face criminal charges for using its code. This makes the case groundbreaking and may set a precedent for similar cases in the future. Tornado Cash’s business model is not altruistic. Storm and its supporters have long argued that being sued for writing code is tantamount to suppressing free speech and should be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, the judge disagreed, stating that the "functionality" of the code precluded it from being protected by free speech. Judge Failla emphasized: The government has a significant interest in promoting a safe financial system, particularly in combating money laundering, unlicensed money transmission services, and sanctions evasion. She said the laws' restrictions on conduct did not unduly affect free speech. "The functionality of the code does not fall within the scope of speech under the First Amendment." The judge also pointed out that Tornado Cash is not a purely "altruistic" project, and pointed out that it is backed by venture capital funds and hopes to gain future benefits from it. profit. Additionally, the platform’s relay functionality and TORN token further strengthen its positioning as a financial service, making it indistinguishable from other money transmission businesses or financial institutions. Storm Trial Storm's legal team had filed a motion asking the U.S. Department of Justice to provide relevant documents from authorities in the Netherlands, which recently convicted Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash co-founder and developer, on money laundering charges. However, Judge Failla denied the motion, finding the defense had failed to prove the documents' relevance to the case and calling the argument too "speculative." Roman Storm's trial is scheduled to begin in New York on December 2 and is expected to last two weeks. If convicted on all three counts, he faces up to 45 years in prison. The case is seen as a major confrontation between cryptocurrency privacy tools and the current legal framework, and may also have far-reaching consequences for the legal liability of code developers in the future. Potential impact of the case: DeFi developers are under pressure. If Storm is ultimately found guilty, this may trigger a "chilling effect" in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi platforms rely on open source code to operate, and the spirit of open source is to transparently process Open code shares the crystallized intellectual property rights of mankind. On the other hand, the open source community can also obtain more forks and the integration of different ideas than the general closed open community. However, the verdict of Tornado Cash may discourage future developers. Developers may worry about facing criminal liability due to improper use of code. This pressure may cause developers to be unwilling to be named or even open source the code in the future, which will further affect Innovation and development in this field require our continued attention. Related reports: The Elegy of Open Source Software" The founder of the currency mixer Tornado Cash was sentenced to 64 months in prison. He was found guilty of money laundering. The founder of the currency mixer Tornado Cash may be sentenced to 64 months in prison! Dutch prosecutor: He created the global hotbed of money laundering. Tornado Cash, a currency mixer, was accused of laundering 1.2 billion mg of money. Community support: open source tools and authors should not take the blame. Tornado Cash went on trial in the United States with a "maximum sentence of 45 years." Programming is Money laundering crime? 〉This article was first published in DongZu BlockTempo "DongZu DongTen - the most influential blockchain news media".