U.S. Department of Justice Policy Shift: Decentralized Software Developers to Be Exempt from Certain Criminal Liabilities

According to ChainCatcher, citing a report from Decrypt, a senior official from the U.S. Department of Justice told a group of crypto industry lobbyists and leaders in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Thursday that the U.S. government will no longer prosecute decentralized software developers under a specific charge. This comes even though, earlier this month, federal prosecutors successfully convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm on that very charge.

The charge is based on Section 1960(b)(1)(C) of the U.S. Code, which stipulates that any unlicensed money transmitting business operator who deals with funds known to be derived from criminal activity or intended for illegal use is committing a crime. Just weeks ago, a Manhattan jury found Storm guilty of violating this law, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on all other charges.

However, at today’s policy summit in Jackson Hole, Matthew Galeotti, Acting Chief of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, made it clear to the attending crypto industry leaders and lobbyists that federal prosecutors will no longer apply the 1960(b)(1)(C) charge to decentralized software developers going forward.