Tornado Cash Roman Storm trial will continue, US prosecutors revoke some charges

PANews reported on May 16 that according to The Block, the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York announced on May 15 that it would revoke part of the allegations against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm "operating remittance business without a license", but will continue to be prosecuted for money laundering and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The case is scheduled to be formally heard on July 14. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a policy memorandum in April, announcing that it would stop the practice of "replacing supervision with prosecutions" and focus on cracking down on cryptocurrency crimes involving terrorist financing and hacker attacks that directly endanger investors, rather than targeting market intermediaries. This shift is seen as an important move by the Trump administration to adjust its digital asset regulatory strategy.

The DeFi Education Fund posted on social media that although the Ministry of Justice's policy adjustments are consistent with the spirit of the memorandum, it failed to completely correct its wrong position in the Tornado Cash case. Coin Center executive director Peter Van Valkenburgh criticized the prosecutor's allegations retained by the prosecution for having legal ambiguity, believing that the "principle of favorable defendants" should be applied to be revoked.