CoinDesk Podcast Network BITCOIN SEASON 2: The Tornado Cash Trial, Explained
Aug 20, 2025
David Morris, an independent tech reporter and author, analyzes the implications of the Tornado Cash trial and Roman Storm's conviction. He elaborates on the trial's legal precedents concerning crypto privacy tools and the potential chilling effects on open-source developers. The conversation delves into Tornado Cash's decentralized nature, its business model, and the challenges faced by privacy-focused technology in an evolving legal landscape. Morris also discusses the future of independent journalism in the crypto space and the significance of community engagement amid ongoing legal scrutiny.
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Origins And Key Destruction
- David Morris describes Tornado Cash's origin at a 2019 hackathon and endorsement by Ethereum community members.
- The founders later destroyed keys in 2020 and panicked when criminal uses emerged afterward.
Founders' Panic Messages
- Dutch police seized Telegram messages showing the founders' panic when Lazarus-linked laundering surfaced.
- Those messages were used by prosecutors to argue knowledge of criminal misuse.
Sanctions List Ineffectiveness
- OFAC's sanctions list proved ineffective at stopping laundering because Lazarus used intermediate wallets, not the listed addresses.
- No sanctioned wallet directly transacted through Tornado Cash during the cited period.
