Tornado Cash Trial Sees Ethereum Developer Defend Roman Storm
2 min read
Prosecutors in the criminal trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm rested their case on Thursday, allowing Storm’s defense team to begin presenting witnesses, including Ethereum core developer Preston Van Loon, who took the stand to defend the crypto mixing service as a tool for privacy. Van Loon, testifying at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, described Tornado Cash as a “privacy tool for Ethereum” and explained that he used the service four times to send a combined 43 Ether around 2019 or 2020, citing safety concerns over his holdings. “If [hackers] know the scope of my assets, I can become a target,” Van Loon told the court, emphasizing the necessity of privacy in crypto transactions. His testimony comes as Storm faces charges of money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter, and conspiracy to violate US sanctions, specifically concerning North Korean hackers associated with the Lazarus Group. Defense Highlights Privacy and Security Concerns The prosecutors’ cross-examination of Van Loon focused on his personal connections with Storm and questioned whether he used centralized platforms like Coinbase. The defense, however, aimed to establish Tornado Cash as a protective privacy layer rather than a platform designed for criminal activities. Storm’s legal team also indicated plans to call “two or three doctors” and possibly a representative from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to strengthen their case further. Van Loon has previously been involved in litigation against the US Treasury over sanctions imposed on Tornado Cash’s smart contract addresses, a case that highlighted broader concerns within the crypto community about privacy rights and government overreach. Broader Implications of the Tornado Cash Exec’s Trial The defense is expected to continue for about a week before concluding, with Storm’s lawyers filing a request on Thursday seeking to modify jury instructions to clarify Tornado Cash’s functions and its alleged links with North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The case is being closely watched within the crypto industry as Storm faces the possibility of years in prison if convicted, with the trial drawing parallels to other high-profile crypto cases, including the 25-year sentence of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried . Notably, Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash co-founder, was sentenced to over five years in prison in the Netherlands last year for money laundering, underscoring the legal risks facing developers of privacy-focused crypto tools. The post Tornado Cash Trial Sees Ethereum Developer Defend Roman Storm appeared first on TheCoinrise.com .

Source: The Coin Rise