Crypto group urges Trump to end prosecution of Tornado Cash co-founder

The DeFi Education Fund has petitioned former President Donald Trump to halt the prosecution of Roman Storm, co-founder of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash (CRYPTO:TORN), in a letter addressed to White House crypto czar David Sacks.

Storm faces trial in July 2025 on charges including conspiracy to launder over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. His co-founder, Roman Semenov, remains at large and is believed to be in Russia.

The DeFi Education Fund described the prosecution as a “lawless campaign” that criminalises open-source software developers.

The group argued that holding developers liable for how others use their code “sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.”

The letter cited Treasury Department guidance from Trump’s first term, which stated that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters.

“This kind of legal environment does not just chill innovation - it freezes it,” the group wrote, warning the prosecution “empowers politically motivated enforcement and puts every open-source developer at risk.”

In January 2025, a federal court in Texas ruled that the Treasury overstepped its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash.

The petition thanked Trump for his support of the crypto industry and his goal to make America the “crypto capital of the planet,” but noted that goal cannot be realised if developers are prosecuted for building the tools enabling the technology.

“We ask President Trump to protect American software developers, restore legal clarity, and end this unlawful DOJ overreach. The job’s not finished, and the stakes could not be higher,” the group stated.

Industry figures including Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko have signed the petition.

“There is no justification in law or policy for prosecuting software developers for launching non-custodial smart contract protocols,” said Jake Chervinsky, Variant Fund chief legal officer, calling the case “an outdated remnant of the Biden administration’s war on crypto.”

According to sources, the petition had gathered over 230 signatures from industry executives and developers as of late April 2025.

At the time of reporting, the Tornado Cash price was $7.84.