Tornado Cash Comes To An End But Jury Can't Make Decision

The Tornado Cash case is coming to an end, but jury has yet to decide what their final verdict for regarding the fate of developer Roman Storm.

During the trial on Wednesday, U.S prosecutors accused Storm of "making bags and bags of money from its protocol", which had facilitated illegal money laundering.

Federal prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti called Tornado Cash "a business for criminals", citing evidence of criminals laundering stolen funds through the decentralised, non-custodial privacy protocol created in 2019.

But Storm's lawyers told the jury that they have never intended for hackers to use Tornado Cash, adding that the protocol was created with ordinary people in mind.

Tornado Cash was a protocol that enhanced transaction privacy by obscuring the links between crypto senders adn recipients, typically by pooling and redistributing funds with others.

Storm's lawyers also argued that the both Storm and his protocol were just creating a privacy protocol, and the administrators had no ability to control who was going to misuse the platform.

"Nothing Storm and his team were doing was a panacea. If you're gonna have a privacy protocol, that's part of it."

However, federal prosecutors called the defense's argument a convenient cover up story, insisting that the founders were well aware of what was happening but decided to turn a blind eye to it.

"Real money wasn't in so-called privacy for normal people. It was in hiding dirty money for criminals."

The closing argument comes after a grueling three-week trial, where experts and witnesses, and victims of scams presented their testimonies on court.

The trial comes amid heightened scrutiny of developers’ liability and coder rights, with the crypto community viewing the verdict as a precedent-setting moment that could impact innovation in the U.S.

A guilty verdict could establish a precedent that holds software developers responsible for how others use their software—an outcome Storm’s supporters warn could have a chilling effect on innovation in the U.S.

Storm had previously pleaded not guilty to all three charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, consipracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Storm could face a prison sentence of 40 years if he was convicted of all three charges.

Jury deliberations began shortly early Thursday evening after the closing arguments to mull over lawyers' arguments and go through all the evidence presented at the trial.

But just minutes after that process began, the group called it quits for the day. The jury is said to continue and will come out with their decision the next day.