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Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Faces 5 Years for a Crime DOJ Now Says It Won’t Prosecute

by admin August 24, 2025



In brief

  • The DOJ announced it will no longer charge decentralized software developers under the same law used to convict Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm earlier this month.
  • DOJ official Matthew Galeotti clarified that prosecutors will avoid such charges when software is truly decentralized and non-custodial, though other charges could still apply if criminal intent is alleged.
  • The policy shift was celebrated by many crypto industry leaders as a major win, but some advocates questioned its timing and impact given Storm’s recent conviction and the DOJ’s ongoing discretion in related cases.

A top Department of Justice official told an audience of crypto industry leaders Thursday that the U.S. government will no longer charge decentralized software developers with a particular crime—the same crime federal prosecutors successfully convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm of earlier this month. 

The charge, U.S. code 1960(b)(1)(C), prohibits operators of unlicensed money transmitting businesses from dealing in funds known to have been derived from a crime, or intended to be used to support unlawful activity. Just weeks ago, a Manhattan jury found Storm guilty of violating the law, a crime which carries a penalty of up to five years in federal prison. The jury failed to reach a verdict on all other counts. 

Today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Matthew Galeotti—the acting head of the DOJ’s criminal division—told a group of crypto lobbyists and industry leaders gathered for a policy summit that federal prosecutors will no longer pursue 1960(b)(1)(C) charges against developers of decentralized software.



“Where the evidence shows that software is truly decentralized and solely automates peer-to-peer transactions, and where a third party does not have custody and control over user assets, new 1960(b)(1)(C) charges against a third party will not be approved,” he said.

The official added that if criminal intent is present in such instances, though, “other charges may be appropriate.”

Galeotti made a point of noting that the new policy will be implemented by the DOJ “going forward,” in a potential nod to Storm’s conviction on the very same charge earlier this month. 

Storm was arrested and charged with several crimes in 2023, including conspiracy to commit money laundering and sanctions violations, for his role in operating Tornado Cash—a coin mixing service that allows crypto users to make private on-chain transactions. 

When the Trump administration took over Storm’s case earlier this year, it did drop a single charge related to operating an unregistered money transmitting business—but kept the charge accusing the developer of operating Tornado Cash while knowing some of its users were processing funds linked to criminal activity. 

That shift was consistent with a DOJ memo circulated in April that instructed federal prosecutors to back off most crypto-related cases—but not necessarily all. 

Crypto lobbyists and industry leaders gathered today for Galeotti’s announcement hailed it, cheering him enthusiastically as soon as his speech finished. They were gathered in Wyoming for the inaugural summit of the American Innovation Project, a new pro-crypto nonprofit backed by some of the industry’s most powerful policy players.

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, a crypto lobbying group, was one industry attendee present for Galeotti’s speech today. In a statement shared with Decrypt, she celebrated the DOJ policy change and thanked the Trump department for “hearing our concerns about Section 1960.”

“The fact the DOJ acknowledged that software developers should not be held responsible for third party’s misuse of their code affirms what we have been advocating for years,” she said. 

Others, though, were less optimistic. Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburg similarly expressed gratitude for Galeotti’s statements in a post on X but lamented the fact that it’s seemingly “a little late” in Roman Storm’s case.

“I’m especially interested if the DOJ keeps fighting when Roman appeals his unlicensed money transmission verdict. If so, what is this speech all about?” Van Valkenburg posted. The Coin Center executive, who oversees the non-profit advocacy group, also expressed concern over Galeotti’s “criminal intent” caveat and noted that the DOJ official’s statements are in no way binding.

In recent months, DeFi and privacy advocates have walked a tightrope, praising the Trump administration for its pro-crypto policy shifts in most instances, but also expressing existential concern about the implications of Storm’s prosecution and conviction by the president’s DOJ. 

After Galeotti’s speech this afternoon, the DOJ official participated in an off-the-record Q&A with crypto industry leaders in the room. A source present at the event told Decrypt Galeotti received no questions about the Roman Storm case.

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August 24, 2025 0 comments
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I need Wave Race: Blue Storm and its cheesy cool to return to the Switch 2's GameCube Classics collection
Game Reviews

I need Wave Race: Blue Storm and its cheesy cool to return to the Switch 2’s GameCube Classics collection

by admin August 18, 2025


It’s been 22 years since the last home console F-Zero game (not counting the handheld spin-offs and 2023’s F-Zero 99), but with the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2 we finally got a chance to revisit the GameCube’s outstanding F-Zero GX. Despite some wonky controls, it’s a game that still stands up today. No wonder Nintendo hasn’t attempted to better it.

But there’s another Nintendo racing series that’s been on hiatus for even longer. Wave Race: Blue Storm was released back in 2001 as a launch window game for the GameCube, only the third in the series behind Wave Race 64 and, before that, the Game Boy original Wave Race. Since then? Nothing.

Pitches were made for a Wii entry, including holding the Wiimote sideways and using the Wii Balance Board, but these never came to fruition. I think it’s high time for Wave Race to make a splash on Switch 2, and that begins with the return of Blue Storm.

Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics – Nintendo Direct | Nintendo Switch 2Watch on YouTube

I know it’s a bit of an ongoing joke among gaming enthusiasts, but I still often find myself judging a game’s visuals by its water graphics: the shimmering translucency, the physics of rolling waves, its splashy wetness. Thing is, Wave Race: Blue Storm nailed it 23 years ago. That’s what made it so brilliant.

It’s a jet-ski racing game, you see, and with it being on water rather than a ground-based track, the course is always shifting. You don’t simply drive a car round a corner; you have to account for the height and power of each wave as you weave in and out of each buoy (or boo-ey as the announcer infuriatingly pronounces it, sorry Americans). There’s a high level of skill required, but with practice you can skim over cresting waves or dive beneath them to utilise shortcuts. This sort of water physics was incredibly impressive back in 2001, even if Wave Race 64 managed similarly on the previous hardware generation.

But then those water physics are taken a step further with each course. Perhaps you’re racing on the glass-like serene surface of a lake, or the choppy waters of a city harbour. On coastal courses the tide sweeps in and out, revealing hidden routes over multiple laps. One level has a collapsing glacier sending turbulent shockwaves in your wake. There’s a sense of dynamism to Blue Storm’s races that’s rarely seen in more traditional racing games.

Then there are the weather effects, ranging from pleasant sunny days to a raging tempest that sends violent waves crashing towards your jet-skiier. No race in Wave Race is ever the same and your skills are constantly being tested as you adapt to the water beneath you, subtly squeezing those adaptive triggers on the controller to angle around obstacles.

I also love how the water sports theme permeates the whole game. Sure, you can flip a jet-ski and perform hand stands to increase your speed boost. But the loading screens have a little bubble you can manoeuvre to watch ripples cascade across the screen; menus overlay a glistening aquatic backdrop; and sound effects are all splishes and splashes and droplets. Everything just looks so…wet. It’s enough to make you pee.

Perhaps what I remember most fondly about Blue Storm is its surf rock soundtrack, all electric guitars smothered in chorus and flange. What’s more, the music changes based on the weather, matching its calm undulations and stormy chaos. Along with the bright visuals, eccentric announcer, and goofy characters, it all lends Blue Storm a sense of cheesy cool that will forever take me back to the early 00s and that GameCube launch period. The skies were blue, the waters clear, and the games were all short and manageable. It was a better time.

This is why Wave Race: Blue Storm deserves to make a return on Switch 2. Yes, Nintendo will obviously bring back the likes of Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Super Smash Bros. – all excellent games – but it’s the lesser known games I’m keen to see shine on the console’s GameCube service. If we can get Chibi Robo this week, there’s space for Blue Storm.

Better yet, perhaps the return of F-Zero GX and Wave Race: Blue Storm will convince Nintendo there are other racing series besides Mario Kart that deserve new outings on Switch 2. It’s been long enough now and the steering wheel and jet-ski handlebars don’t need to be reinvented. Just let me play Wave Race handheld with HD graphics in the bath for a proper 4D experience.

Which GameCube games do you most want to see return on Switch 2? Sound off in the comments!



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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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NFT Gaming

Weeks Before Trial, Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Sounds Alarm: ‘If I Lose, DeFi Dies With Me’

by admin June 14, 2025



In brief

  • “If I lose, DeFi dies with me,” Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm tweeted.
  • Storm was charged by the DOJ in 2023 with conspiracy to commit money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitter business, and evading U.S. sanctions.
  • Storm and other DeFi advocates have argued that the prosecution unjustly holds software developers liable for the ways in which their software is used.

Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm issued one of his starkest rebukes yet of the Trump administration’s Department of Justice on Friday, arguing that if federal prosecutors prevail in the developer’s upcoming criminal trial, decentralized finance could be permanently destroyed. 

“The DOJ wants to bury DeFi, saying I should’ve controlled it, added KYC, [and] never built it,” Storm wrote. “SDNY is trying to crush me, blocking every expert witness.”

“If I lose, DeFi dies with me,” the crypto developer continued. “The dream of financial freedom, the code I believed in—it all fades into darkness. This isn’t just my end; it’s ours.”

Storm was charged by the DOJ in 2023 with conspiracy to commit money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitter business, and evading U.S. sanctions, for his role in running Tornado Cash—a popular service that allows users to make their on-chain transactions difficult to trace. While such coin mixing platforms are popular among privacy advocates, they have also been employed by criminal organizations and U.S. state enemies like North Korea.

Earlier this year, after President Donald Trump retook power and directed numerous federal agencies to back off the digital assets industry, the DOJ shuttered its crypto-dedicated enforcement unit and directed prosecutors to no longer pursue criminal charges against coin mixing services for “acts of their end users.” 



Many in crypto took the policy shift as a signal that the DOJ might soon pardon Storm. Immediately after returning to office, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, a black market website powered by Bitcoin.

But Storm’s pardon never materialized. Last month, Trump’s DOJ said it would press forward with its case against the Tornado Cash co-founder, only dropping an element of a single charge that  he failed to comply with money transmitting business registration requirements. 

Storm and other DeFi advocates have argued that the prosecution unjustly holds software developers liable for the ways in which their software is used. Last year, another Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev, was convicted by a Dutch court that ruled the site was “intended for criminals.”

In a post on the social media platform X on Friday, the Ethereum Foundation said that it was donating $500,000 to Storm’s defense fund and that it would match up to an additional $750,000 in donations from the community. “Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” the non-profit tweeted.

While President Trump has made several pro-DeFI moves in recent months—signing a bill into law repealing an IRS rule protested by the sector, and supporting crypto legislation featuring carve-outs for decentralized finance protocols—industry advocates are now warning that successful prosecution of figures like Storm could cause significant harm to DeFi’s operating principles. 

When reached by Decrypt and asked whether he now perceives the Trump administration to be hostile to DeFi, based on his continued prosecution, Storm referenced a recent legal filing made by the DeFi Education Fund, an industry lobbying group, in Alexey’s Pertsev’s ongoing appeal of his conviction in the Netherlands.

“Should we remove everything from the market that is known to be used by criminals for illegal activities?” the filing reads. “[S]oftware developers should not be held criminally liable for the actions of third parties who use their software to commit crimes.”

UPDATE (June 13, 2025, 6:58 p.m. ET): Adds information about Ethereum Foundation contribution to defense fund. 

Edited by James Rubin

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June 14, 2025 0 comments
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Lowest Level in 2025? Solana (SOL) Bullish Storm Approaching?
Crypto Trends

Lowest Level in 2025? Solana (SOL) Bullish Storm Approaching?

by admin May 30, 2025


  • Shiba Inu stagnation
  • Solana under tension

The price of XRP is consolidating between two significant exponential moving averages — the 26 EMA and the 50 EMA — and is trapped in a narrow range, displaying indecision. Since a major breakout or breakdown is usually indicated by this zone of compression, XRP’s current position in the market is among the most crucial in weeks. Over the past few sessions, XRP has been testing the 26 and 50 EMAs numerous times, but it hasn’t been able to establish a clear advantage above or below, as the daily chart shows.

A squeeze like this frequently functions as a coiling spring, accumulating energy that, when the market determines which way to lean, could cause an explosive move. Right now, XRP is trading at about $2.29, which is the middle of this compression zone. While the 50 EMA serves as resistance, the 26 EMA is maintaining its position as a dynamic support.

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingView

The market’s hesitancy to choose a direction is reflected in the RSI, which is balanced around 50, creating an atmosphere of anticipation. With a clear break above the 50 EMA, XRP may soon retest the $2.50–$2.60 range. But given that low-volume conditions amplify the impact of any breakout or breakdown, a break below the 26 EMA could signal a swift decline toward $2.20 or even lower.

The good news is that this kind of squeeze typically ends with a significant directional move, which could present traders with a chance for either dramatic losses or sharp gains depending on where they are in the volatility explosion. The important thing right now is to keep a close eye on these EMAs, because the one that breaks first will probably determine the direction of XRP’s next significant move. 

Shiba Inu stagnation

As the price of Shiba Inu continues to stagnate with little to no movement, it is currently at some of its lowest volatility levels in 2025. The current trading price of $0.00001427 has repeatedly failed to break above the 50 EMA (blue), 100 EMA, and 200 EMA, leaving it trapped in a narrow range. The price is not the only factor contributing to this stagnation; the total collapse in volatility is perhaps more significant for memecoins like SHIB.

The issue is obvious: speculative momentum, viral trends, and explosive moves are what make memecoins thrive. The excitement fades along with the volatility, and without it, SHIB is just another token lost in the commotion of the cryptocurrency markets. A market in balance is indicated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI), currently hovering around the 50 mark, but this also indicates that traders are not particularly enthusiastic.

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Since May, the price of SHIB has kept to the lower end of its consolidation range, effectively flatlining. In the face of this low-volatility environment, the memecoin hype that once drove SHIB to astronomical highs appears to have disappeared, and there is just no narrative to keep investors interested in the market without any spikes or surges.

For SHIB, that is a more significant problem than the price itself because the memecoin craze is fueled by volatility rather than price stability. This could turn SHIB’s memecoin status from a strength to a weakness if it persists. A far cry from the times when its erratic price swings made it the talk of cryptocurrency, SHIB runs the risk of losing its relevance unless volatility returns. SHIB’s days as a meme-fueled darling appear to be coming to an end, but for the time being, the market is waiting for something to break the monotony.

Solana under tension

Right now, Solana is coiling up around $170, displaying tension and potential energy that could blow up at any moment. The asset has spent the last few weeks grinding up against its 50 EMA, 200 EMA, and 100 EMA. The convergence of the moving averages typically indicates an impending storm that could cause Solana to either spiral downward or return to a bullish position.

As of right now, SOL has failed to break out above resistance and is stuck below $180. The price action is displaying a bearish double top pattern, which could indicate more declines if buyers don’t intervene quickly. Despite that impending danger, there’s a good chance that the moving averages’ alignment will provide a bullish springboard, particularly if the price can recover $180 with volume.

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It would indicate that SOL is prepared to test the psychological barrier again at $200 and, perhaps, move back toward the $240 mark, which was its previous peak. However, if the asset is unable to hold the $165–170 support zone and those overlapping EMAs turn into resistance, SOL may experience a rapid decline to $150 or even $140. Even though the RSI is currently in neutral territory at 58, a further decline could quickly intensify bearish sentiment.

All things considered, Solana’s consolidation between these convergent EMAs is a formula for a major move. There is no doubt that the calm before the storm is almost over, but how buyers respond over the next few days will determine whether it goes up or down. The next big trend in Solana is about to emerge, so prepare for the storm and expect volatility to return.



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May 30, 2025 0 comments
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Cheyenne Ligon
NFT Gaming

FinCEN Opinion on Samourai Wallet ‘Irrelevant’ in Roman Storm Case

by admin May 22, 2025



Prosecutors in the case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm are attempting to to sidestep the possibility that a New York judge forces them to hand over additional evidence that could help Storm’s case.

In a Wednesday letter to the court, prosecutors pushed back against Storm’s lawyers’ assertions that they’d failed to meet their so-called Brady obligations — a constitutional requirement for prosecutors to turn over any potentially helpful evidence to the defense before trial.

At the heart of the debate is a recent production of evidence in another case in the Southern District of New York (SDNY): the legal pursuit of Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. Both cases involve a crypto mixing service that prosecutors allege was knowingly used to launder crime proceeds,

In the Samourai Wallet case, however, prosecutors recently admitted to having a conversation with two Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) officials in 2023 — before pressing charges — in which the government employees said they didn’t believe the mixing service would qualify as a money transmitting business under their guidelines and didn’t need a license to operate. Lawyers for Rodriguez and Hill accused prosecutors of suppressing critical evidence and violating their right to due process. Last week, the judge overseeing the case denied their motion for a hearing on the matter, telling them instead to include their concerns in their pre-trial motion due at the end of the month.

Though the cases are separate, lawyers for Roman Storm expressed concern that the prosecution’s failure to inform them of their communications with FinCEN regarding Samourai Wallet’s status as a money transmitting business also potentially constituted a Brady violation in Storm’s case.

In their Wednesday response, prosecutors said that the FinCEN conversation wasn’t evidence.t was an opinion, not a fact, they stated, and therefore not required to be turned over to the defense. Prosecutors also claimed that their discussion with FinCEN was irrelevant to Storm’s case, because it wasn’t specifically about Tornado Cash.

“Tornado Cash simply was not part of the conversation,” prosecutors wrote. “While Samourai Wallet and the Tornado Cash service may share some superficial similarities, they operated quite differently.”

Prosecutors said that they didn’t have similar conversations with FinCEN about Tornado Cash, claiming that there were “no such interactions comparable to those described in the Rodriguez Disclosures.”

“As the government has repeatedly explained to the defense in this case, the government has neither sought nor obtained an opinion from any employee at FinCEN — or any other government agency — regarding whether the Tornado Cash service is subject to registration obligations,” prosecutors wrote. “Such an opinion — especially an informal opinion offered by employees who expressly disclaim to be speaking for the agency — would not be legally admissible and would not constitute Brady material.”

The case against Storm is expected to begin on July 14 in New York.



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May 22, 2025 0 comments
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