‘Disappointing’: U.S. DoJ seeks retrial of Tornado Cash founder

U.S. government agencies are eliciting conflicting views on crypto mixers and DeFi software developers.

The above rift has become evident in the latest push by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to retry the Tornado Cash founder, Roman Storm. 

In a letter sent to the Southern District of New York’s (SDNY) Judge Katherine Polk Failla, the DoJ requested the retrial to begin in October 2026. 

Community opposes DoJ’s push for retrial

However, the DeFi and crypto community has raised concerns about the planned retrial. 

In particular, Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer and executive director at lobby group DeFi Education Fund, billed the update as ‘incredibly disappointing news.’

Last year, Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm was charged with three counts: conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business (MTB), money laundering, and violations of sanctions. 

But he was only found guilty of running an unlicensed MTB, which attracted a five-year jail sentence. However, the jury was undecided on the two other counts, and each could fetch a 20-year sentence if Storm is found guilty. These are the charges the DoJ is seeking to retry. 

Moreover, Roman Storm criticized SDNY prosecutors for overstepping their role, undermining President Donald Trump’s crypto agenda, and disregarding the U.S. Treasury’s latest directive.

Here, Storm was referring to the U.S. Treasury’s latest report on crypto mixers, which characterized the products as ‘unlawful.’ 

“Lawful users of digital assets may leverage mixers to enable financial privacy when transacting through public blockchains.”

DeFi developers’ protections at risk

Similarly, a recent landmark Uniswap ruling established that scammers were liable for any wrongdoing and losses incurred on non-custodial platforms. 

The ruling exempted developers from legal liability and, by extension, was viewed by many policy watchers as a positive sign for DeFi. In fact, the Unsiwap ruling was issued by Judge Failla, who is handling the Storm case. 

However, the DoJ’s push for a retrial runs counter to the above ruling and the U.S. Treasury statement, further putting DeFi developers’ protection in limbo. 

Reacting to the update, Solana Policy Institute’s CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine called the retrial push ‘depressing’ but vowed to support Storm. 

For his part, David Hoffman of Bankless pleaded with the Trump Administration to drop the charges against Storm. 

“If the USA wants to be the Crypto Capital of the world, we need to protect our open-source developers. Please simply pardon Roman Storm from a charge leftover from the Biden admin.”

Interestingly, TORN, Tornado Cash’s native token, surged 4% despite the negative update. 

Final Summary

• The DoJ is pushing for the retrial of Roman Storm for sanctions violations and money laundering. 
• The crypto community expressed disappointment with the update as software developers’ protections hang in the balance.