TL;DR
- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a new trial against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm in October 2026
- The case is controversial as the U.S. Treasury published a report in March 2026 acknowledging legitimate uses for crypto mixers
- Treasury now distinguishes between custodial and non-custodial mixers in its guidance to Congress
- The case raises fundamental questions about the line between financial privacy and money laundering
DOJ to Re-Try Storm in October
The Department of Justice under the Trump administration has requested that the trial against Roman Storm, one of the lead developers behind the decentralized crypto mixer service Tornado Cash, resume in October 2026. Decrypt reports this. Storm has been indicted for, among other things, money laundering and violating sanctions rules related to the Tornado Cash protocol.
That the DOJ is pushing for a new trial is notable given that it is the Trump administration's own Treasury Department that has simultaneously shifted its stance on such services.
Treasury Acknowledges Legitimate Uses
In a report to Congress from March 2026, titled «Innovative Technologies to Counter Illicit Finance Involving Digital Assets», the U.S. Treasury acknowledges for the first time that crypto mixers can serve legitimate purposes for law-abiding users.
According to the report, such services can be used to protect personal wealth from public scrutiny on transparent blockchains, shield companies' payment history from competitors, enable anonymous donations to charitable causes, and safeguard privacy in everyday digital payments.
Law-abiding users of digital assets can utilize mixers to ensure financial privacy in transactions on public blockchains — U.S. Treasury, March 2026
This represents a clear shift from the previous position, where the focus was almost exclusively on mixers' role in criminal activity.
The Distinction Between Custodial and Decentralized Mixers
The Treasury report makes an important analytical distinction relevant to Storm's case:
Tornado Cash is a non-custodial, decentralized protocol — precisely the category against which Treasury now states no new restrictions are recommended.
Continued Serious Concerns About Criminal Use
Despite the shift in course, Treasury emphasizes that mixers are still widely misused. The report indicates that North Korean cybercriminals stole at least $2.8 billion in digital assets between January 2024 and September 2025, and that mixers were a central component in laundering these funds.
Since May 2020, over $1.6 billion originating from mixer services has flowed into so-called cross-chain bridges, of which over $900 million is concentrated in a single bridge linked to North Korean money laundering, according to Treasury data.
The Paradox of Trump's Crypto Policy
That the DOJ under Trump is actively seeking the resumption of a case against a decentralized protocol developer, while Treasury in the same period acknowledges such services as legitimate privacy tools, illustrates an internal tension within the administration.
Critics have long argued that Storm's indictment raises fundamental questions: can an open-source software developer be held responsible for others' criminal use of the protocol? The Treasury report does not provide a direct answer but significantly nuances the legal landscape.
The case against Storm will be closely watched by both the crypto industry and legal communities working on issues of privacy, financial regulation, and the limits of criminal liability in decentralized systems.
What Happens Next
If the court approves the DOJ's request, a new trial against Roman Storm is scheduled to begin in October 2026. The outcome could have far-reaching consequences for how U.S. authorities choose to regulate — and potentially prosecute — developers of decentralized privacy tools in the future.
