Justice Department May Shield DeFi Innovators After Roman Storm Trial

“Prosecutors are not regulators and not legislators,” Galeotti said last Thursday, stressing that the Justice Department will not stretch criminal law to impose new regulations. He underscored that “merely writing code, without ill intent, is not a crime,” and that innovating new ways to store or transmit value remains lawful.

Importantly, he clarified that criminal liability requires specific intent: a developer publishing open-source code without trying to break the law cannot be charged simply because others misuse it for illegal purposes, like money-laundering.

Context

On 6 August 2025, a federal jury delivered a split verdict against Roman Storm, co-founder of the Tornado Cash protocol. Jurors convicted him of operating an unlicensed money-transmission business but could not agree to convict him with more serious laundering and sanctions violations charges.

Prosecutors argued that Storm knowingly facilitated laundering by cybercriminals and North Korean hackers, while the defense countered that Tornado Cash was designed to protect user privacy and that open-source developers cannot control later uses.

Anticipation 

The mistrial highlighted the uneasy balance between law enforcement and decentralized finance, fueling fears that developers could face prosecution for tools later misused by criminals. 

It also did not definitively answer the question as to whether developers will continue to be prosecuted if others misuse their products.

Whole of government approach

Galeotti’s remarks align with broader Trump administration policy. In July, the White House’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets unveiled recommendations to make America the “crypto capital of the world.”

The plan encourages Congress to close oversight gaps and urges regulators to review regulations that are designed to boost innovation through clearer regulatory positions from the federal government. It also seeks to expand banking access for crypto firms.

Changing targets

Speaking on behalf of the Justice Department, Galeotti noted that attorneys will remain focused on clear cases of fraud, sanctions evasion, or money laundering. His assurances may imply that the department is unlikely to dedicate significant efforts to retry Roman Storm, though the possibility of future litigation has not yet been confirmed.

Galeotti’s comments come amid recent policy positions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Congress, which have moved rapidly to fulfill President Trump’s directives related to digital assets.