The trial that decides what a developer owes moved to 2027

In August 2025 a Manhattan jury convicted Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm on one count — conspiracy to run an unlicensed money-transmitting business — and failed to agree on money laundering and sanctions charges. Prosecutors want another go at the two unresolved counts. The retrial, once floated for October 2026, is now set for April 2027. A motion for acquittal is still undecided.

The stakes are not one man's liberty alone. The unresolved question is whether publishing code that anyone can use makes the author liable for the worst user. Answer yes, and every privacy tool in this catalogue is written under a shadow. Answer no, and the enforcement pressure of the last three years has to find another route.

Nothing is settled meanwhile, and that is itself the effect: uncertainty is cheaper for a prosecutor than a verdict and more expensive for a developer than one.

What this means in practice: expect maintainers of privacy tools to keep moving toward non-custodial, coordinator-free designs. Not fashion — liability.

Sources: The Block — Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's retrial pushed back to April 2027, DeFi Education Fund — U.S. v. Storm 2026 update