U.S. Treasury Concedes Weaknesses in Crypto Mixer Policy as Tornado Cash Co-Founder Roman Storm Remains in DOJ Crosshairs

Roman Storm, a co-founder of Tornado Cash, said the U.S. Treasury has acknowledged in a recent court filing that earlier rules aimed at crypto "mixers" were flawed and could create a "chilling effect" on legitimate activity. In a post on X on Oct. 6 (UTC+8), Storm said that while relevant Treasury offices now recognize the policy's shortcomings, the U.S. Department of Justice continues to argue in his case that even lawful transactions processed through Tornado Cash should be treated as illegal because the tool could be used for money laundering or sanctions evasion. Storm added that, in his view, non-criminal branches of the U.S. government see the approach as inappropriate, while the criminal justice system is treating all related activity as criminal. He said he has been detained and prosecuted for more than 1,139 days, and that the case stems from his work developing open-source code. Storm also noted that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) filed a new document today, which he said confirms the DOJ is still seeking his conviction. (Source: ODAILY)