Crypto leaders urge Trump to end 'lawless campaign' criminalizing software developers, including Roman Storm

A group of key crypto players are calling on the White House to stop prosecuting open-source software in light of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm's imminent trial.

In a letter led by the DeFi Education Fund to White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks on Monday, leaders urged the Trump administration to change course and end the Justice Department's "overreach" in prosecuting software developers. Those developers don't have control over third parties and should not be held criminally liable for how their code is used, they said.

The group said President Donald Trump's commitment to make the U.S. the " crypto capital of the planet " won't happen if prosecution of software developers, like Storm, continues.

"His stated goal to make America the 'crypto capital of the planet' cannot be realized if developers are prosecuted for building the very tools that enable this innovation," they said. "We ask President Trump to protect American software developers, restore legal clarity, and end this unlawful DOJ overreach."

Storm was charged in 2023 by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York with conspiracy to commit money laundering and sanctions violations in operating the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. Storm has tried to dismiss the charges, citing First Amendment violations. His trial is scheduled for mid-July.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken a friendlier approach toward crypto. Since he took office in January, Trump has signed a couple of crypto-related executive orders, including most recently one creating a strategic bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile, and has tapped crypto-friendly regulators to lead key agencies.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department released a memo , declaring it was not a "digital assets regulator" and would not bring charges that would impose rules on crypto. The industry has also relied on guidance from the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that says peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters, the DeFi Education Fund said.

"While the DOJ recently released a helpful memo explaining that it will no longer regulate crypto by criminal prosecution, and expressed principles that reflect longstanding FinCEN guidance on money transmission laws, it seems the SDNY has not received the message," they said.

Over 70 people signed on to the letter, including Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, crypto investor and The Block co-founder Mike Dudas, and Multicoin Capital General Counsel Greg Xethalis.