Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm confronts significant trial obstacles as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to exclude five of his six proposed expert witnesses ahead of a critical July hearing. The restrictions complicate Storm’s defense against charges of conspiracy to violate international sanctions through the privacy-focused protocol.
Prosecutors blocked the majority of defense witnesses by challenging the relevance of their testimony to the core allegations. Storm’s team intended to leverage these experts to demonstrate Tornado Cash’s non-custodial architecture and permissionless design—technical characteristics central to refuting claims of intentional facilitation of illicit transactions.
The DOJ countered that such testimony would improperly encroach on judicial authority, arguing that explaining the protocol’s functionality falls outside permissible expert witness boundaries. This procedural clash underscores the legal system’s struggle to address decentralized technologies where developers lack control over user activity.
Support for Storm has surged within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with the Ethereum Foundation committing $500,000 to his defense fund and pledging to match community donations up to $750,000. This backing highlights industry-wide concerns about the case’s implications for open-source development.
The trial’s outcome may establish pivotal precedents regarding developer liability in decentralized finance and shape future regulatory approaches to privacy-enhancing blockchain tools. Legal observers warn the verdict could redefine accountability boundaries for creators of neutral infrastructure subsequently misused by third parties.