The United States Department of Justice has officially confirmed that creating software code without harmful intent is not considered a crime. This statement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew J. Galeotti during a speech at the American Innovation Project event.
This is reported by Business • Media
DOJ’s Position on Software Developers and the Crypto Industry
Galeotti emphasized that the department will continue to pursue individuals who intentionally engage in fraudulent schemes, money laundering, or evasion of sanctions. At the same time, if there is no intent to commit an offense, charges against developers of decentralized solutions under 18 U.S.C. § 1960 (conducting unlicensed money transmission) will no longer be filed. The official noted that if the software genuinely automates peer-to-peer transactions and the developers do not have control over users’ assets, such cases will not receive support from the prosecution.
“We believe that simply writing code without malicious intent is not a crime,” Galeotti said.
Impact on the Tornado Cash Case and Policy Change
Matthew Galeotti’s statements came after a jury found Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm guilty of conducting unlicensed money transmission. According to Galeotti, in recent months, influenced by the new U.S. administration, the DOJ’s position on digital assets has significantly changed. The department now does not plan to use criminal legislation to regulate activities in the digital asset industry.
This approach aligns with the policy of the Donald Trump administration, which significantly liberalized regulatory requirements for companies in the cryptocurrency sector. Galeotti stressed that the Department of Justice will continue to adhere to the principle that regulatory issues should be handled by specialized agencies, while the prosecution should only pursue actual crimes.
Representatives of the crypto industry, including Variant Fund’s legal counsel Jake Chervinsky, believe that such a statement could significantly impact the proceedings against the co-founder of Tornado Cash.
“Roman Storm was just convicted on the same charge and under the same circumstances. Justice for Roman means dropping the case,” Chervinsky wrote in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
It is worth noting that earlier, the company Paradigm expressed concerns about the risks for software developers in the U.S. specifically due to the case against the co-founder of Tornado Cash.