U.S. Department of Justice rejects Tornado Cash developer’s motion to dismiss; retrial countdown begins

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday in a letter to federal judges explicitly opposed Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s motion to dismiss, saying that the Supreme Court rulings he cited are fundamentally different from the circumstances of this case and should not be used as a basis to overturn the criminal charges. The case is entering the stage of preparations for a retrial, revealing the Trump administration’s internal contradictions in its cryptocurrency policy—while making high-profile statements of support for the crypto industry, it continues to prosecute developers of crypto privacy tools.

Roman Storm’s Latest Motion to Dismiss: The Reasoning Citing the Cox Ruling

Roman Storm was arrested in 2023 for operating Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash is an Ethereum mixing protocol that allows users to complete transfers without exposing transaction records on an opaque chain; in essence, it is a digital financial privacy tool. Prosecutors alleged that he knew that criminals were using the protocol to launder money, even though the protocol could operate entirely autonomously from a technical standpoint, without direct developer involvement.

Last summer, a Manhattan jury found that Storm’s charge of unlawfully operating a money-transmitting business was established, but it could not reach a unanimous agreement on two other counts: conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to evade sanctions. After Storm appealed, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed a new lawsuit in March of this year, seeking to retry the case on the two conspiracy counts.

Facing pressure for a retrial, Storm’s lawyers on March 25 found a basis for retaliation in the Supreme Court’s copyright ruling in Cox Communications. In that case, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Cox did not need to be held responsible for its customers’ unlawful music playback—and the position the Trump administration supported in that case was precisely Cox’s stance. Storm’s lawyers therefore argued that the same logic should extend to protect Storm as a tool developer.

The DOJ’s Three Rebuttals: Why the Cox Ruling Doesn’t Apply

In a three-page letter on Tuesday, the Department of Justice rebutted the above arguments one by one:

Three Aspects in Which the DOJ Rejects Applying the Cox Ruling

The nature of the conduct is fundamentally different: Cox adopted proactive policies to stop users from infringing, effectively curbing the majority of known violations; while Storm is alleged to have known that users were engaging in improper conduct but took no intervention.

The circumstances for application are completely different: The Cox ruling addressed civil copyright infringement and has no connection in nature, context, or industry to the criminal financial wrongdoing charges Storm faces. The DOJ explicitly stated: “The defendant’s conduct in this case cannot be compared to the conduct in the Cox case. The civil copyright case has nothing to do with this case.”

Tornado Cash Has Been Classified as Having No Legitimate Use: In the letter, the DOJ argued that there is no evidence showing that Tornado Cash can be used for “substantial or commercially meaningful” non-criminal purposes; if this classification holds, it would have far-reaching effects on the entire crypto privacy tools space.

The Trump Crypto Policy’s Contradictory Dilemma

What is most controversial about this case is not only the clash of legal arguments, but also the fact that it clearly exposes the Trump administration’s structural contradictions in its cryptocurrency policy. Over the past year, the White House has continued to send friendly signals to the crypto industry, and the Department of Justice has even repeatedly publicly promised that it would stop prosecuting developers of crypto privacy software, once prompting crypto industry leaders to celebrate.

However, beyond policy promises, federal prosecutors have in practice already sent multiple crypto developers to prison, and this time the DOJ’s decision to insist on retrying Storm once again shows that there is a significant gap between the declaration of “supporting crypto” and actual judicial actions. Privacy advocacy organizations such as Coin Center have expressed strong concern, believing that the Trump administration’s actual direction makes the situation of crypto privacy developers “very bad.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was Roman Storm indicted, and what does it have to do with Tornado Cash?

Roman Storm is the co-founder of the Tornado Cash Ethereum mixing protocol. He was arrested in 2023. Prosecutors alleged that he knew that criminals were using the protocol to launder money. The relevant charges include unlawfully operating a money-transmitting business, conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to evade sanctions, even though the protocol can operate autonomously from a technical standpoint and does not require direct developer involvement.

Why did the DOJ refuse to apply the Supreme Court’s Cox ruling?

The DOJ believes that the Cox case involves civil copyright infringement, which is fundamentally different in nature from the criminal financial wrongdoing charges Storm faces. At the same time, Cox had related policies aimed at proactively preventing infringement, whereas Storm is alleged to have known of违规 conduct but did not intervene—so the two situations are fundamentally different.

What impact would the DOJ’s claim that Tornado Cash has “no legitimate use” have?

If this classification ultimately holds in court, it could set a precedent for future legal prosecutions of all developers of crypto privacy tools, directly disrupting the entire crypto privacy track, and it would also substantially reduce the crypto community’s confidence in the Trump administration’s promise to “protect developers.”