(Headline article at bottom) This probably comes down to the collecting of fees and those being transmitted to Roman and his partner by enabling this code based mixing service. If they would have forgone the fees, or relied on a donation system, he might have skirted this law and conviction. The government was dishonest with how they presented their case, and this chain analysis tracking isn’t what they make it out to be, and hopefully it will get challenged in court further to show their dishonesty.
Consequently, a mixing service is for public blockchain cryptocurrencies, where for privacy you can have a pool of multiple people adding their coins in with others, essentially mixing them together, and then distributing them back out in a way to break the tracking of transactions. As in a public blockchain you have the cryptocurrency being sent to a recipient with also any change coming back to the wallet, with future transaction also trackable. For example, here is a Bitcoin transaction of where I sent some Bitcoin to an anonymous exchange to convert it into Monero. And you can see the input and the two outputs,
The output with red icon (already spent) above is the main output to the exchange, and in my BTC Explorer Web server I can click on that output and it brings up two transactions with that address, the original, and this subsequent transaction below where it was combined with other inputs into a single output. And here’s the rub, how do you interpret that transaction history. And your wallet is capable of creating unique new addresses where you never reuse an address, so unless you can link a particular transactions to a entity, just how meaningful and accurate is chain analysis and the tracking they’re reporting in these court cases, as these transaction chains continue on and on?
So this was mainly the government intent on nobody having any financial privacy, going after a coder for a service which was mostly used by law abiding people concerned about their financial privacy and trying to disrupt tracking. The setup of the mixing service was such as they didn’t directly hold any funds or have the ability to limit anyone from using the service, done through code and smart contracts, with the government implying they should have coded in some control (you can still use the Tornado Cash mixer by the way). So this was a political attack on people fighting for privacy rights for users of cryptocurrencies. And governments are moving to outlaw mixing services and privacy focused cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash where you can’t track transactions, as well as putting much stricter regulations on on-ramps and off-ramps of cryptocurrency, e.g. next year US crypto exchanges have to report crypto sales along with buyers that move crypto off of exchanges with the private wallet address they sent it to. So as it seems cryptocurrencies are flourishing and being adopted into traditional finance (TradFi), governments are doing everything within their power to neuter the revolution that it is for consumers in trying to return privacy to finances along with more sound money not devalued so heavily by the private central banks and their abusive manipulations. And criminal activity and money laundering is not an excuse to take away everyone’s financial privacy as has been done in TradFi, as law enforcement can still follow the money and do traditional investigative techniques to catch people violating the law. And to understand how little privacy you have in TradFi, watch the following video.
By:Frank Corva
Today in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm was found guilty on the second count on his indictment, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The Tornado Cash trial has concluded.
Roman Storm has been found guilty of the conspiracy to operate an unlicensed MTB charge.
Here are my thoughts on the outcome, the government’s (rejected) motion to remand Storm, and what comes next. pic.twitter.com/T41TtEL9Kh— Frank Corva (@frankcorva) August 6, 2025
The jury did not come to a unanimous verdict on the other two counts — conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.
The jury arrived at this guilty verdict after three and half days of deliberation and after a trial that began in the middle of last month.
As a result of the guilty verdict on the money transmission charge, Storm now faces up to five years in prison.
Judge Failla Rejects Motion To Remand Storm
In the wake of the verdict being issued, the prosecution made a motion to remand Storm into custody, claiming that he was a flight risk.
The defense’s Ms. Klein pushed back on the government’s assertion, stating that Storm had little reason to flee the United States, especially considering that his home in Washington state is tied up in a $2 million bail bond; that his daughter, of which he has partial custody, and girlfriend are based in the U.S. and his parents are green card holders; and that much of the crypto community that’s supported Storm is based in the U.S. and that they’ll hopefully continue to support Storm as he appeals the verdict.
The prosecution claimed that now that Storm has been convicted of a crime, he has more incentive to flee, but the judge wasn’t convinced.
She claimed that the “stability of the verdict is still in play” (likely referring to the notion that Storm will appeal the verdict), before adding that his “incentives have shifted tremendously” and then subsequently denying the prosecution’s motion to remand him.
U.S. Attorney for the SDNY Chimes In
Shortly after the verdict was issued, U.S. Attorney for the SDNY (and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair) Jay Clayton issued a statement on the verdict.
“Roman Storm and Tornado Cash provided a service for North Korean hackers and other criminals to move and hide more than $1 billion of dirty money,” said Clayton.
“The speed, efficiency, and functionality of stablecoins and other digital assets offer great promise, but that promise cannot be an excuse for criminality. Criminals who use new technology to commit age old crimes, including hiding dirty money, undermine the public trust, and unfairly cast a shadow on the many innovators who operate lawfully,” he added.
“This Office and our partner agencies are committed to holding accountable those who exploit emerging technologies to commit crime.”
Clayton did not acknowledge the memo issued by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in which Blanche stated the U.S. Department of Justice will “stop participating in regulation by prosecution” in the crypto space and that it will no longer target virtual currency mixing services for the acts of their end users.
He also didn’t mention that the vast majority of funds that moved through Tornado Cash users weren’t proven to have been obtained illicitly.