US prosecutors request new trial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm

TheNewsCryptoPublicado a 2026-03-10Actualizado a 2026-03-10

Resumen

U.S. prosecutors are seeking a retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm on charges of money laundering conspiracy and sanctions violations after a previous jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on those counts. Although Storm was convicted of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, the unresolved charges allow for a new trial. Prosecutors proposed a retrial as early as October, while Storm’s defense suggested availability no sooner than 2026. The case is closely watched in the crypto industry, as it could set a precedent for the legal liability of developers working on decentralized financial software and open-source protocols.

U.S. prosecutors are seeking a retrial for Roman Storm, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash. This comes after a federal jury issued a mixed verdict in the previous trial. The case has received considerable attention in the cryptocurrency industry because it has the potential to set the stage for the legal accountability of decentralized software developers. Prosecutors in Manhattan are seeking a retrial for Roman Storm on two counts after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the previous trial.

The Letter For The Retrial

Jay Clayton wrote to Katherine Polk Failla on Monday and asked her to arrange for a retrial of Roman Storm on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions. The government suggested the period between Oct. 5 and Oct. 12 for the trial, indicating that it could take around three weeks for the process to end. The letter indicated that the government was ready to retry the case as early as between March and May. However, Storm’s defense attorneys indicated to the prosecutors that they could only participate in the process as late as 2026.

During the earlier trial, the jurors found Storm guilty of conspiring to run an unlicensed money transmitting business in association with the crypto mixer known as Tornado Cash. However, the jury did not arrive at a unanimous decision regarding the money laundering charge and sanctions conspiracy charge, which means that these charges are eligible for retrial. Storm continues to stand by his plea of not guilty and had previously moved to dismiss the money transmitting charge. His legal representatives had argued that the prosecution failed to prove that he intended to help illicit actors use his platform. Clayton’s letter also stated that Storm’s legal representatives argued it was premature to seek a retrial until the court resolves the motion to dismiss, scheduled for argument in early April.

Tornado Cash is now a closely watched legal case in the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance spaces. This is because the outcome is thought to have implications for the interpretation of the liability of developers in decentralized software systems. It has been observed that the prosecutors used federal money transmitter laws as the basis for the prosecution of the developer of the Tornado Cash protocol. The jury has since convicted Storm of running an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Meanwhile, the jurors were unable to make a decision on the money laundering conspiracy and sanctions violation charges against Tornado Cash. These unresolved charges give the prosecution the option of holding a retrial for the unresolved charges against Tornado Cash. Legal experts say that a retrial could help determine the extent of liability for developers of open-source financial technologies. Other analysts have cautioned that expansive interpretations of current financial laws could confuse the development of decentralized finance products. Pro-privacy groups have highlighted Tornado Cash’s role as an open-source privacy protocol on blockchain networks.

Highlighted Crypto News:

Trump Signals Iran War May End Very Soon, Floats U.S. Control of the Strait of Hormuz

TagsBlockchainTornado CashU.S

Preguntas relacionadas

QWhat specific charges is the US government seeking a retrial for against Roman Storm?

AThe US government is seeking a retrial for Roman Storm on the charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.

QWhy did the jury's previous verdict lead to the possibility of a retrial?

AThe jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the money laundering and sanctions conspiracy charges, making those specific charges eligible for a retrial.

QWhat was the one charge that the jury did convict Roman Storm on in the initial trial?

AThe jury convicted Roman Storm of conspiring to run an unlicensed money transmitting business.

QWhy is the Tornado Cash case considered so significant for the cryptocurrency industry?

AThe case is significant because its outcome could set a legal precedent for determining the liability of developers who create decentralized software and open-source financial technologies.

QWhat argument did Storm's defense team use to challenge the money laundering charge?

AStorm's defense attorneys argued that the prosecution failed to prove he had the intent to help illicit actors use the Tornado Cash platform.

Lecturas Relacionadas

Anthropic Cries Wolf: Is the AGI Threat Real, or Just an IPO Story?

Anthropic has published an article titled "When AI builds itself," discussing the emerging concept of "recursive self-improvement," where AI begins to actively participate in designing, training, testing, and optimizing its own subsequent versions. The company presents internal data showing that by May 2026, over 80% of code merged into its codebase was written by Claude, its AI model. Claude's capabilities have expanded to handling complex, open-ended engineering tasks, achieving a 76% success rate in such areas, and even contributing to research processes, such as optimizing code performance and conducting AI safety experiments. Anthropic outlines an evolution from human-driven development to AI-assisted workflows, culminating in the current stage where AI agents can autonomously write, run, and delegate code. The company cautions that the path toward a "closed loop," where AI continuously improves itself, is becoming visible. It calls for coordinated global mechanisms to potentially slow or pause frontier AI development to allow safety research and societal structures to catch up. However, the timing of this warning coincides with Anthropic's preparations for an IPO, framing the narrative not just as a safety concern but also as a demonstration of Claude's advanced capabilities and its integral role in accelerating Anthropic's own R&D—creating a potential "flywheel" effect for competitive advantage. This contrasts with OpenAI's recent, more policy-oriented discussion of the same risks, highlighting the competitive dynamics in the AI industry as companies position themselves in both the technological and regulatory landscape.

marsbitHace 54 min(s)

Anthropic Cries Wolf: Is the AGI Threat Real, or Just an IPO Story?

marsbitHace 54 min(s)

Coinbase Targets Crypto Crime, Freezing $3M Linked To Scam Operations

Coinbase froze over $3 million in cryptocurrency linked to Southeast Asian scam networks as part of a multi-agency "Disruption Week" campaign. The operation, coordinated by the DOJ's Scam Center Strike Force, involved companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Starlink, and disrupted over 1.4 million scam accounts. The DOJ noted that investment fraud, including "pig butchering" scams, is among the fastest-growing threats, with crypto-related scams causing billions in losses. This action follows other recent crackdowns targeting scam infrastructure globally. Coinbase highlighted that blockchain provides a permanent transaction record, aiding investigations and countering the narrative that crypto is solely a tool for crime.

bitcoinistHace 59 min(s)

Coinbase Targets Crypto Crime, Freezing $3M Linked To Scam Operations

bitcoinistHace 59 min(s)

BIT Research: ETF Purchases Have Slowed, Strategy (MicroStrategy) Has Slowed, What Else Can Drive Bitcoin's Rise?

Market Refocus on Inflation and Rate Expectations Weighs on Bitcoin Currently, the market is in a phase of macro-repricing dominated by inflation and interest rate expectations. Bitcoin, which previously benefited from easy liquidity and low inflation, is seeing its core bullish drivers weaken. These drivers were market expectations for interest rate cuts and strong inflows from Bitcoin ETFs and institutions like MicroStrategy (referred to as "Strategy" in the text). The logic has shifted. Recent high inflation data (e.g., CPI hitting 3.8% in a May 2026 report) has caused the market to sharply reduce its rate cut expectations for 2025 and even price in potential hikes. This is a key constraint for Bitcoin, as it lacks cash flows and is highly sensitive to rate expectations. Concurrently, institutional capital flows have slowed significantly. Following the hot CPI data, Bitcoin ETFs saw accelerated outflows, with around $4.3 billion leaving over a period. MicroStrategy's ability to keep adding substantial Bitcoin to its balance sheet is also diminishing. Together, ETF and MicroStrategy holdings total roughly $110 billion, but their momentum as growth engines is cooling. In summary, Bitcoin's current pressure stems not from its own fundamentals but from a changing macro environment. As long as inflation stays elevated, Bitcoin is likely to remain in a consolidating phase. However, historically, inflation eventually peaks. Once it recedes and rate cut expectations rebuild, institutional capital could return, potentially fueling a new and more robust recovery phase for Bitcoin.

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

BIT Research: ETF Purchases Have Slowed, Strategy (MicroStrategy) Has Slowed, What Else Can Drive Bitcoin's Rise?

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Earning 1000 Trillion in Half a Year, 'Pocketing' 20 Million per Capita: This Round of Wealth Creation in the Korean Stock Market is Unprecedented in Scale

The South Korean stock market is experiencing an unprecedented wealth surge in 2026, with household equity and fund asset values soaring by over 1,000 trillion KRW (~$730bn) year-to-date. This translates to an average per capita wealth increase of roughly 20 million KRW, fueled by a historic 109% rally in the KOSPI index. The boom is driven by three converging forces: an AI-driven semiconductor supercycle boosting giants like Samsung and SK Hynix; the government's "Value-Up" market reforms addressing long-standing corporate governance issues; and aggressive real estate regulations that have locked capital within financial markets, preventing profits from flowing back into property. This has triggered a wealth effect, boosting high-end consumption significantly. However, the gains are highly concentrated. The two semiconductor behemoths account for over half the index's value, but retail investors own relatively low stakes in them, systematically missing the biggest rallies. Wealth and consumption benefits are skewed towards luxury goods and imported cars, bypassing mainstream retail. Further risks stem from excessive leverage, with high trading volume in leveraged ETFs, and a market sentiment heavily reliant on the AI sector's fortunes and speculative rumors. While this cycle marks a potential shift from real estate to equities as a primary wealth generator for Koreans, its sustainability, amid structural imbalances and leverage, remains a critical test.

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Earning 1000 Trillion in Half a Year, 'Pocketing' 20 Million per Capita: This Round of Wealth Creation in the Korean Stock Market is Unprecedented in Scale

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Behind ZEC's Over 30% Plunge: An 'Unlimited Minting' Vulnerability with No Way to Prove if It Was Ever Exploited

A critical vulnerability was discovered in Zcash's Orchard privacy pool, allowing for the theoretical creation of undetectable counterfeit ZEC. Researcher Taylor Hornby found the flaw on May 29th, 2024, within the Orchard circuit's cryptographic constraints, which could let an attacker bypass asset conservation rules. Although a rapid emergency fix was deployed within days via a coordinated soft and hard fork, a core uncertainty remains: due to Orchard's privacy features, it is impossible to cryptographically prove whether this "unlimited mint" flaw was exploited in the nearly four years since the pool's 2022 launch. This uncertainty, rather than the patched flaw itself, triggered a market panic, causing ZEC's price to drop over 30%. While the Zcash Foundation stated no evidence of exploitation was found, independent entity Shielded Labs emphasized the impossibility of definitively proving no counterfeit ZEC was ever created. The incident highlights the unique trust challenge in privacy systems. To address this, developers are proposing a new network upgrade with enhanced auditing to allow verifiable proof of supply integrity. Notably, the researcher utilized the newly released AI model Claude Opus 4.8 as a tool during the security review, signaling the growing role of advanced AI in uncovering complex cryptographic vulnerabilities.

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Behind ZEC's Over 30% Plunge: An 'Unlimited Minting' Vulnerability with No Way to Prove if It Was Ever Exploited

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Trading

Spot
Futuros
活动图片