War Against Crypto Not Dead As Digital Asset Developers Still Being Prosecuted: Lawyer John Deaton

Digital asset lawyer and advocate John Deaton says the “war against crypto” isn’t dead despite the recent shift in US presidential administrations.

Deaton says on the social media platform X that there are still important cases going on even though Gary Gensler isn’t running the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) anymore.

The lawyer notes there is still an active case against Roman Storm, one of the founders of Tornado Cash, an Ethereum ( ETH )-based coin mixing system that helps users conceal their digital asset transactions.

Storm was arrested in 2023 and slapped with charges related to allegedly laundering $1 billion in criminal proceeds, including hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lazarus Group, the sanctioned North Korean cybercriminal outfit. Storm’s trial is scheduled for April.

Deaton also points to the case against Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the co-founders of the crypto mixer Samourai Wallet. Authorities arrested them last April for allegedly operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business that executed more than $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also alleges Samourai laundered more than $100 million worth of criminal proceeds.

Deaton notes both cases involve Section 1960 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which prohibits the operation of unlicensed money-transmitting businesses.

“Section 1960 requires money-transmitting businesses to register with FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). 

In 2019, FinCEN published guidance around Section 1960 that caused almost everyone to believe that control over user funds is required in order to be considered engaging in a money-transmitting business.

Since, at least 2019, if not earlier, the crypto industry has believed that someone who develops software and that software operates without the developer touching the money that’s flowing through the software, the developer is NOT a money transmitter. Therefore, that developer would never need to get a license from the federal government and thus, never be required to submit reports to regulators.

But that is NOT the law, according to federal prosecutors at the DOJ. The DOJ’s interpretation in prosecuting Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and the two developers of the Samourai Wallet is that the developers could be considered money transmitters under Section 1960 even if they never took or assumed control of any of the software’s users’ funds.”

Deaton says the cases are an “existential threat” to the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

“If Roman Storm is found guilty and loses a single day of his freedom, imagine the chilling effect it would have on the DeFi industry. DeFi scares both regulators and incumbent legacy players, there will be resistance to dismissing these cases. The fight continues.”

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