DOJ Shifts Crypto Focus, Raising Questions About Tornado Cash

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After years of targeting founders and developers of crypto infrastructure for allegedly operating unlicensed money services and violating U.S. sanctions, the Department of Justice is shifting its approach.
In an April 7 memo, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the DOJ will no longer prioritize enforcement actions against virtual currency exchanges, mixers, and non-custodial wallets. Instead, the Department will focus on bad actors—those using those permissionless technology tools to support terrorism, trafficking, organized crime, and other illicit activities.
“The DOJ is finally recognizing that software developers are not the right targets,” said Jason Gottlieb, a litigation partner at Morrison Cohen. “This is a long-overdue course correction.”
The impact of this shift on the pending criminal case against Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov remains unclear. Their trial, originally set for next week, has been postponed until July.
At the heart of the case is whether developers can be held criminally responsible for creating open source code used by others to commit financial crimes. Tornado Cash is comprised of immutable smart contracts and an optional user interface with enhanced privacy features, which the DOJ claims the developers controlled.