Roman Storm, a 35-year-old software developer in Seattle, Washington, created a cryptocurrency mixer to help people keep their transactions private. For example, the service allowed people to donate bitcoin to Ukraine without Russian authorities being able to track them.
But after North Korea used Tornado Cash to launder a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin, federal agents raided Storm's home in 2023 and arrested him. His trial starts this summer and he faces up to 40 years in prison.
Storm told The Wall Street Journal that Tornado Cash is a neutral technology, like a spreadsheet or a mobile phone.
"Hackers and bad actors use Microsoft Excel," Storm told the Journal. "Should Microsoft developers feel bad for what they've done? I think no."
From The Wall Street Journal:
Crypto heavyweights such as Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and Matt Huang, co-founder of venture-capital firm Paradigm, have voiced support for Storm, while several crypto trade groups filed briefs criticizing the government's case. Paradigm gave $1.25 million for Storm's legal fees, and Huang raised the case during Trump's White House crypto summit earlier this month.
"Roman is being unfairly prosecuted," Huang told the Journal. "Software developers shouldn't be threatened with criminal sanctions for building neutral infrastructure, which is what Tornado Cash was. You wouldn't throw Tim Cook in prison because criminals use iPhones."
A cryptocurrency mixer, also known as a tumbler, allows people to send bitcoins to an address, where they are mixed with other people's coins, effectively breaking the audit trail. The mixing service returns the same amount of bitcoin back to each participant, after it taking a cut for performing the service.
Previously:
• North Korea just yoinked $1.5 billion from crypto bros to fund more missiles
• How North Korea perfected counterfeiting $100 bills
