Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial

Bitcoin Magazine

Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan want another chance to convict Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, asking a judge to schedule a retrial this October on two criminal counts where jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision last year.

The request, filed Monday in the Southern District of New York, would reopen one of the most consequential legal battles over the boundaries of software development and criminal liability in the cryptocurrency industry. 

The case centers on Tornado Cash, a decentralized crypto mixer designed to obscure the origin and destination of blockchain transactions.

Prosecutors argue the tool enabled large-scale illicit finance. Storm and his supporters argue the government is attempting to criminalize open-source code.

Storm’s first trial ended in August with a mixed outcome. A Manhattan jury convicted him of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business but deadlocked on two other charges: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.

Those unresolved counts carry the heaviest penalties. A conviction on both could expose Storm to as much as 40 years in federal prison.

In their letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, prosecutors said a retrial date should be set now to avoid scheduling delays. They proposed a start in early or mid-October and estimated a new trial would last about three weeks.

Storm remains free on bail while the case continues.

A mixed policy shift in Washington

The retrial request arrives during a shift in the federal government’s public posture toward digital assets.

Last year, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche circulated a memo stating that the Justice Department “is not a digital assets regulator.” The guidance instructed prosecutors to avoid cases that attempt to impose regulatory frameworks through criminal charges against platforms, wallets, and similar infrastructure.

The memo also cautioned against targeting developers for the conduct of users who interact with decentralized tools.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has softened its language around privacy tools on public blockchains. In a March 2026 report to Congress under the GENIUS Act, Treasury acknowledged that digital asset mixers can serve legitimate purposes.

According to the report, lawful users may rely on such tools to shield sensitive financial information, including personal wealth, business payments, charitable donations, and consumer spending patterns.

Storm helped create Tornado Cash in 2019 as a privacy protocol for the Ethereum network. Unlike custodial mixers, the protocol operates through smart contracts rather than a centralized service operator.

Federal authorities have argued the tool facilitated more than $1 billion in illicit transactions, including activity tied to the North Korean hacking group known as the Lazarus Group.

Roman Storm: Making code a crime

Storm’s defense maintains that developers cannot control how decentralized software is used after deployment.

In a post on X following news of the retrial request, Storm said the first jury heard four weeks of evidence before failing to reach consensus on the two most serious charges.

“A jury of 12 Americans heard four weeks of evidence and deadlocked,” he wrote. “No verdict on money laundering. No verdict on sanctions violations.”

Storm framed the retrial effort as an attempt to redefine the legal status of code.

“The government’s response?” he wrote. “Try again to make writing code a crime.”

This post Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.