Lawyer and lawyer of digital assets and lawyer John Deaton says that the “war against crypto” is not dead despite the recent shift in US Presidential Administrations.
Deaton says on the social media platform X that important cases are still underway, although Gary Gensler no longer runs the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The lawyer notes that there is still an active case against Roman Storm, one of the founders of Tornado Cash, a mint mix system based on Ethereum (ETH) that helps users to hide their digital asset transactions.
Storm was arrested in 2023 and beaten with charges with regard to alleged money laundering of $ 1 billion in criminal revenues, including hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lazarus group, the sanctioned North Korean cyber criminal outfit. The storm process is planned for April.
Deaton also points to the case against Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the co-founders of the crypto mixer Samourai portion. They arrested authorities last April for the alleged non-permit for money-transmarting that has carried out more than $ 2 billion in illegal transactions.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) also claims that Samourai has been laundered for more than $ 100 million in criminal revenues.
Deaton notes that both cases section 1960 of Title 18 of the United States Code include the operation from non-litered money-transmittent companies.
“Section 1960 requires that companies for transmissing money register at Fincen (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network).
In 2019, Fincen published guidelines around Section 1960, which meant that almost everyone believed that control over user funds is required to be tackled at a money transport company.
Because, at least 2019, if not before, the crypto industry has believed that someone is developing that software and that software works without the developer touching the money that flows through the software, the developer is not a money transmitter. That is why that developer never has to get a license from the federal government and you never have to submit reports to supervisors.
But that is not the law, according to federal prosecutors at the Doj. The interpretation of the Doj in the continuation of Tornado Cash -Developer Roman Storm And the two developers of the Samourai wallet is that the developers under section 1960 can be considered as money senes, even if they have never taken over or took over control of the funds of the software. “
Deaton says that things pose an “existential threat” for the Sector Decentralized Finance (Defi).
“If Roman Storm is found guilty and loses a single day of his freedom, imagine the hair -raising effect that it would have on the Defi industry. Defi scares both regulators and sitting old players, there will be resistance to reject these things. The fight continues. “
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