Three blockchain advocacy teams have filed amicus curiae briefs on April 5 to defend Twister Money developer Roman Storm from felony fees within the US.
The filings help Storm’s movement to dismiss the fees towards him and current a number of arguments to make sure builders are protected against such authorized motion.
The Blockchain Affiliation stated the federal government’s case has a “vital flaw,” and its adoption may have “hostile repercussions” for the crypto business.
The group’s head of authorized, Marisa Tashman Coppel, asserted that the federal government’s remedy of Twister Money as an unlicensed cash transmitter is unfounded. Underneath 18 USC § 1960 & FinCEN rules, cash transmitters should have wholly impartial management over person property.
She stated:
“With out the flexibility to independently transfer funds on a person’s behalf, one can’t be a cash transmitter.”
Twister Money and the builders don’t have management over funds as a result of the protocol is self-executing and immutable. Customers as an alternative keep management over their property, that are held in swimming pools managed by non-custodial sensible contracts.
CoinCenter weighs in
CoinCenter’s Director of Analysis, Peter Van Valkenburg, stated the US authorities “wrongly charged the Twister Money builders with felony conspiracy.”
Just like the Blockchain Affiliation, Valkenburg and CoinCenter minimized builders’ position in Twister Money’s operations by referring to the platform’s sensible contract-based swimming pools.
Valkenburg additionally defined how Twister Money’s software program instruments and UI are non-essential, that means that the defendants didn’t execute transactions, comingle property, obtain funds, or present secret notes — even when the platform was used for these functions.
He in contrast Twister Money to TurboTax, which gives customers with a helpful method to do taxes however can not file and pay taxes on their behalf.
CoinCenter additionally superior authorized arguments supporting software program publication as free speech and supporting statutory exemptions for informational transactions. It in contrast Twister Money to SWIFT, stating that each platforms needs to be free from direct sanctions as a result of every solely handles info.
DeFi Schooling Fund
The DeFi Schooling Fund argued that builders shouldn’t be held accountable when a 3rd celebration makes use of their software program for felony exercise.
The group’s Chief Authorized Officer, Amanda Tuminelli, defined that the US authorities has by no means used a selected statute, the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act (IEEPA), in a comparable manner.
In over 100 different latest instances surveyed by the DeFi Schooling Fund, the federal government accused the defendant of interacting with a sanctioned counterparty. Nonetheless, builders of platforms like Twister Money don’t have any such counterparties.
Movement to dismiss
Storm and his legal professionals initially filed a movement to dismiss the felony fees on March 29. The amicus curiae filings from every advocacy group explicitly help that movement.
It’s not but clear whether or not the movement for dismissal will succeed, because the case continues to be in its early proceedings. The US Division of Justice charged Roman Storm in August 2023, and he’ll stay on bail till his September trial.
The US Division additionally charged one other Twister Money developer, Roman Semenov, alongside Storm. Semenov’s location is unknown.
The US Treasury and OFAC sanctioned Twister Money in August 2022, alleging that the platform has laundered over $7 billion of crypto since 2019. It linked a fraction of that exercise to the North Korean state-sponsored group Lazarus Group.
