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Legitimate Privacy Tool or Dirty Money ‘Laundromat’? Lawyers Debate Role of Tornado Cash on Day 1 of Roman Storm Trial
NEW YORK — There is at least one fact that both the defense and the prosecution agree in the ongoing criminal money laundering trial of software developer Roman Storm: the product he helped to create and run — a once-popular crypto privacy tool called Tornado Cash — was exploited by hackers and cyber criminals to launder their dirty money.
What the parties do not agree on, and the fundamental question at the heart of Storm’s trial, is whether Storm was able to prevent this behavior, whether he knew which criminals were using the Tornado Cash protocol and how and, most importantly, whether he should be held criminally liable for creating a tool that bad actors used to cover their tracks.
Storm, 36, has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business — charges which, if Storm is convicted, carry a maximum combined sentence of 45 years in prison. His trial kicked off in Manhattan on Monday, and opening arguments took place Tuesday afternoon after lawyers selected a 12-person jury to oversee the three-week trial.
Read more: Jury Seated for Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Trial
During the government’s opening statements, prosecutor Kevin Mosley told the jury that Roman Storm “knew that his business was laundering dirty money” and that he made millions of dollars doing it. Mosley said the jury would see a photo of Storm wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a washing machine with Tornado Cash’s logo on it — evidence that he allegedly knew exactly what Tornado Cash was being used for.
Storm, Mosley said, turned a blind eye to the hackers using his platform and ignored pleas from scam victims who reached out to him, asking for help recovering their money. Though prosecutors claim Storm either told the victims he couldn’t help them or ignored them entirely, Mosley said Storm maintained full control over the Tornado Cash platform, even tweaking it “to make it even better for criminals to hide their money.”
Some of Tornado Cash’s users included North Korea’s infamous state-sponsored hacking organization, the Lazarus Group, which used Tornado Cash to launder the proceeds of its 2022 hack of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network. Mosley told the jury that, by allegedly facilitating the Lazarus Group’s money laundering, Storm and his “co-conspirators” — fellow developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Semenov — violated U.S. sanctions against North Korea. Mosley said Storm knew Tornado Cash was helping North Korea skirt U.S. sanctions because he allegedly texted Semenov and Pertsev, “guys, we’re done for” after news of the Axie Infinity hack broke.
Storm’s lawyers, of course, see the facts of the case very differently. In her opening statements to the jury, Keri Axel, a partner at Waymaker LLP, said that Storm’s text to Pertsev and Semenov after the Axie Infinity hack had nothing to do with sanctions, and everything to do with the impact of the hack on Tornado Cash’s reputation, as well as the price of the TORN token, which suffered in the wake of the hack. The washing machine t-shirt, she said, was a joke “in poor taste.”
Storm, Axel said, didn’t work with hackers or scammers, and didn’t want them using his product.
“These criminals, acting without any assistance from Roman [Storm], misused Tornado Cash,” Axel said. “You will not see any evidence that he communicated with them or assisted them, absolutely none.” The fact that Tornado Cash was continuously exploited by bad actors “ultimately killed his dream” of creating a privacy tool that was widely adopted and respected throughout the crypto community, Axel said.
It is privacy — and the legitimate need and desire for it — that sits at the core of Storm’s defense. His lawyers told the jury that their client, a Kazakhstan-born U.S. citizen who taught himself to code while working odd jobs as a bus boy and a security guard before jumping to the tech industry, was inspired to create a privacy tool after meeting Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who she described to the jury as a “crypto rockstar.”
While Axel admitted that Tornado Cash was “misused” by bad actors, she said that they represented a minority of the tool’s users — most of whom she said were normal people using Tornado Cash to preserve their privacy.
“It’s not a crime to make a useful thing that’s misused by bad people,” Axel said, comparing Tornado Cash to a smart phone used to scam people, or a hammer used to break into homes.
She explained to the jury that, because the blockchain is public and easily searchable, any known wallet address can be searched, and its transactions (and the value of its contents) can be viewed by anyone. Axel explained that, in the crypto industry, loss of privacy has led to the recent string of kidnappings and attacks on high-net worth individuals and executives.
“How would you feel if someone took your bank account and published it on the internet?” Axel asked the jury. “You would feel exposed and probably unsafe.”
Axel told the jury that they would hear testimony from a host of victims and hackers, none of which could be directly connected to Roman Storm. The hackers, she said, were only testifying “in the hopes that they can get leniency in their own criminal cases” and that Storm lacked the power to help their victims.
First witness
After opening statements concluded, the government called its first witness, a Taiwan-born Georgia resident named Hanfeng Ling. Ms. Ling told the court how she was the victim of a pig butchering scam in the fall of 2021, that began with a wrong-number Whatsapp message. The scammer convinced Ling to transfer nearly $200,000 from her savings account to purchase crypto and then “invest” the crypto in a fake foreign exchange trading platform.
Ms. Ling’s testimony will continue on Wednesday. Nathan Rehn, the lead prosecutor, told the court that he expects her testimony will be followed by four more government witnesses on Wednesday.
The bulk of Storm’s trial is expected to take place over three weeks, followed by jury deliberation.
Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.
Bitcoin (BTC) traded just above $115k in Asia Tuesday morning, slipping slightly after a strong start to the week.
The modest pullback followed a run of inflows into U.S. spot ETFs and lingering optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut rates next week. The moves left traders divided: is this recovery built on fragile foundations, or is crypto firmly back on track after last week’s CPI-driven jitters?
That debate is playing out across research desks. Glassnode’s weekly pulse emphasizes fragility. While ETF inflows surged nearly 200% last week and futures open interest jumped, the underlying spot market looks weak.
Buying conviction remains shallow, Glassnode writes, funding rates have softened, and profit-taking is on the rise with more than 92% of supply in profit.
Options traders have also scaled back downside hedges, pushing volatility spreads lower, which Glassnode warns leaves the market exposed if risk returns. The core message: ETFs and futures are supporting the rally, but without stronger spot flows, BTC remains vulnerable.
QCP takes the other side.
The Singapore-based desk says crypto is “back on track” after CPI confirmed tariff-led inflation without major surprises. They highlight five consecutive days of sizeable BTC ETF inflows, ETH’s biggest inflow in two weeks, and strength in XRP and SOL even after ETF delays.
Traders, they argue, are interpreting regulatory postponements as inevitability rather than rejection. With the Altcoin Season Index at a 90-day high, QCP sees BTC consolidation above $115k as the launchpad for rotation into higher-beta assets.
The divide underscores how Bitcoin’s current range near $115k–$116k is a battleground. Glassnode calls it fragile optimism; QCP calls it momentum. Which side is right may depend on whether ETF inflows keep offsetting profit-taking in the weeks ahead.
Market Movement
BTC: Bitcoin is consolidating near the $115,000 level as traders square positions ahead of expected U.S. Fed policy moves; institutional demand via spot Bitcoin ETFs is supporting upside
ETH: ETH is trading near $4500 in a key resistance band; gains are being helped by renewed institutional demand, tightening supply (exchange outflows), and positive technical setups.
Gold: Gold continues to hold near record highs, underpinned by expectations of Fed interest rate cuts, inflation risk, and investor demand for safe havens; gains tempered somewhat by profit‑taking and a firmer U.S. dollar
Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 topped 45,000 for the first time Monday, leading Asia-Pacific gains as upbeat U.S.-China trade talks and a TikTok divestment framework lifted sentiment.
S&P 500: The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to close above 6,600 for the first time on Monday as upbeat U.S.-China trade talks and anticipation of a Fed meeting lifted stocks.
Elsewhere in Crypto
Wall Street giant Citigroup (C) has launched new ether (ETH) forecasts, calling for $4,300 by year-end, which would be a decline from the current $4,515.
That’s the base case though. The bank’s full assessment is wide enough to drive an army regiment through, with the bull case being $6,400 and the bear case $2,200.
The bank analysts said network activity remains the key driver of ether’s value, but much of the recent growth has been on layer-2s, where value “pass-through” to Ethereum’s base layer is unclear.
Citi assumes just 30% of layer-2 activity contributes to ether’s valuation, putting current prices above its activity-based model, likely due to strong inflows and excitement around tokenization and stablecoins.
A layer 1 network is the base layer, or the underlying infrastructure of a blockchain. Layer 2 refers to a set of off-chain systems or separate blockchains built on top of layer 1s.
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, though smaller than bitcoin’s (BTC), have a bigger price impact per dollar, but Citi expects them to remain limited given ether’s smaller market cap and lower visibility with new investors.
Macro factors are seen adding only modest support. With equities already near the bank’s S&P 500 6,600 target, the analysts do not expect major upside from risk assets.
Read more: Ether Bigger Beneficiary of Digital Asset Treasuries Than Bitcoin or Solana: StanChart
Stellar’s XLM token endured sharp swings over the past 24 hours, tumbling 3% as institutional selling pressure dominated order books. The asset declined from $0.39 to $0.38 between September 14 at 15:00 and September 15 at 14:00, with trading volumes peaking at 101.32 million—nearly triple its 24-hour average. The heaviest liquidation struck during the morning hours of September 15, when XLM collapsed from $0.395 to $0.376 within two hours, establishing $0.395 as firm resistance while tentative support formed near $0.375.
Despite the broader downtrend, intraday action highlighted moments of resilience. From 13:15 to 14:14 on September 15, XLM staged a brief recovery, jumping from $0.378 to a session high of $0.383 before closing the hour at $0.380. Trading volume surged above 10 million units during this window, with 3.45 million changing hands in a single minute as bulls attempted to push past resistance. While sellers capped momentum, the consolidation zone around $0.380–$0.381 now represents a potential support base.
Market dynamics suggest distribution patterns consistent with institutional profit-taking. The persistent supply overhead has reinforced resistance at $0.395, where repeated rally attempts have failed, while the emergence of support near $0.375 reflects opportunistic buying during liquidation waves. For traders, the $0.375–$0.395 band has become the key battleground that will define near-term direction.
Technical Indicators
- XLM retreated 3% from $0.39 to $0.38 during the previous 24-hours from 14 September 15:00 to 15 September 14:00.
- Trading volume peaked at 101.32 million during the 08:00 hour, nearly triple the 24-hour average of 24.47 million.
- Strong resistance established around $0.395 level during morning selloff.
- Key support emerged near $0.375 where buying interest materialized.
- Price range of $0.019 representing 5% volatility between peak and trough.
- Recovery attempts reached $0.383 by 13:00 before encountering selling pressure.
- Consolidation pattern formed around $0.380-$0.381 zone suggesting new support level.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Asia Morning Briefing: Fragility or Back on Track? BTC Holds the Line at $115K
Wall Street Bank Citigroup Sees Ether Falling to $4,300 by Year-End
XLM Sees Heavy Volatility as Institutional Selling Weighs on Price
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