PANews reported on May 16 that according to The Block, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on May 15 that it would drop some of the charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm for "operating a remittance business without a license," but would continue to prosecute him for money laundering and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The case is scheduled to be formally heard on July 14. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a policy memorandum in April, announcing that it would stop the practice of "prosecution instead of regulation" and focus on combating cryptocurrency crimes involving terrorist financing, hacker attacks, and other crimes that directly endanger investors, rather than targeting market intermediaries. This shift is seen as an important move by the Trump administration to adjust its digital asset regulatory strategy.
The DeFi Education Fund posted on social media that although the policy adjustment of the Department of Justice is consistent with the spirit of the memorandum, it has failed to completely correct its wrong position in the Tornado Cash case. Peter Van Valkenburgh, executive director of Coin Center, criticized the charges retained by the prosecution for legal ambiguity and believed that they should be withdrawn in accordance with the "defendant-favoring principle."
