Tornado Cash case opens: Prosecutors claim it assisted North Korea in Money Laundering, defense responds "He's just a programmer, not a criminal"

The trial of Tornado Cash begins, with both the prosecution and defense holding firm to their arguments

The criminal trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm officially opened this week in a federal court in New York, with jury selection completed on Monday. The subsequent opening statements revealed the core positions and strategic differences between the prosecution and defense.

Prosecution Story Introduction: Victim Woman Scammed out of $250,000

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mosley opened with the true story of a New York woman who was scammed out of $250,000 in a cryptocurrency fraud, with hackers subsequently laundering the funds through Tornado Cash. The prosecution stated that this is just a microcosm of the many crimes that exploit this protocol, aiming to show the "human side" behind the technical crimes to the jury.

Subsequently, Mosley raised the level of accusation, claiming that the tools developed by Storm were used by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus for money laundering of 600 million dollars, which originated from an attack on a gaming company. He emphasized that this not only violates U.S. sanctions laws but also poses a threat to national security.

The prosecution believes that Storm knowingly allowed its agreements to be used for money laundering, but chose to "keep the washing machine running," and claimed that it "held the keys to the laundromat," actively removing the system's shutdown function, which is regarded as intentional profit-seeking.

Defense response: "He is a programmer, not a criminal"

Storm's defense attorney Keri Axel painted a completely different picture from that of the prosecution. She stated that Storm is a young immigrant who moved from Kazakhstan to Russia and then to the United States, inspired by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, passionate about decentralization and privacy concepts, and as a result developed Tornado Cash.

Axel pointed out that Tornado Cash is just a neutral tool, like the Signal communication software or a hammer, which is inherently neither good nor evil. Once the protocol is deployed, no one (including Storm himself) can shut it down or control it.

The T-shirt became evidence, the defense claims it is an "inside joke"

The prosecution cited a T-shirt worn by Storm that had the sarcastic phrase "money laundering" printed on it as "indirect evidence." In response, Axel stated that the T-shirt was just a joke within the crypto community and not proof of criminal intent, saying, "That was a meme, not a confession."

Defense Detailed Explanation of Decentralization: No Control, No Fees, No Modification Rights

The defense also provided the jury with a detailed introduction to the technical operation principles of Tornado Cash, including smart contracts, public blockchains, and the operation of Ethereum nodes. Axel emphasized that Storm does not charge fees, has no access to user funds, and cannot modify contracts. The government has a serious misunderstanding of the decentralized code mechanism.

She also quoted a message sent by Storm to collaborators after the North Korean hacker attack: "We are done." This is not a criminal intent, but a genuine reaction of panic from him.

First Witness Testifies: Tornado Cash Used for Crypto Fraud

After the opening statements, the prosecution called its first witness—Ms. Lin from Taiwan. She stated that she had been scammed in a cryptocurrency fraud and was instructed by the fraudster to use Tornado Cash to "hide the flow of funds." This testimony aims to illustrate how ordinary users can be victimized due to the protocol being used for criminal activities.

The case is still under review: Is the focus on the code or the criminal tool?

The case is expected to last several weeks, during which the prosecution will submit chat records, financial data, and more witness testimonies. The jury will ultimately decide whether Storm merely wrote code or led a "decentralized money laundering enterprise."