A coalition of cryptographic companies urged the congress to press the Ministry of Justice to modify an “unprecedented and too large” interpretation of the laws that have been used to invoice the promoters of the Tornado Cash.
A letter of March 26 signed by 34 cryptographic companies and defense groups of lawyers sent to the senatorial banking committee, to the Chamber’s Financial Services Committee and to the Judicial Committees of the Chamber and the Senate, said that the DOJ’s point of view on the cases of transmission of money without license meant “essentially each blockchain promoter could be continued as a criminal”.
The letter – led by the DEFI education fund and signed by Kraken and Coinbase – added that the interpretation of the Ministry of Justice “creates confusion and ambiguity” and “threatens the viability of software development based in the United States in the digital asset industry”.
The group said that the DoJ began its position “in August 2023 by criminal indictment” – at the same time, it charged the tornado -storm tornado and novel Semenov tornado developers with money laundering.
Storm was released on bail, argued not guilty and hopes that the charges have dropped. Semenov, a Russian national, is free.
Source: DEFI Education Fund
The DoJ filed similar accusations against the co -founders of Samurai Wallet Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, who both pleaded non -guilty.
The letter from the Crypto group has argued that two sections of the American code define a “money transmission company” – title 31 section 5330, defining who must be authorized and title 18 section 1960, which criminalizes operation without license.
He added that the 2019 Directives of the Financial Network of Financial Crimes of the Treasury (Fincen) have given examples of what money transmission activities and said that “if a software developer never gets possession or control over customer funds, this developer does not use a money transmission company” ”.
The letter argued that the DOJ had adopted that the definition of a money transmission company under article 5330 “is not relevant to determine if someone exploits a money transmission company” without license under article 1960 “despite the” intentional similarity “in the two sections and the advice of Fincen.
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The group accused the DoJ of having ignored both the advice of Fincen and certain parts of the law to continue its own interpretation of a money transmission company when it billed Storm and Semenov.
They declared that the result had seen “two distinct American government agencies with contradictory interpretations of” money transmission “- an unjust and unfair position for the participants and innovators respectful of laws.”
The letter indicates that if it was not addressed, the interpretation of the Ministry of Justice would exhibit non-guardian software developers “within the reach of the United States for criminal responsibility”.
“The resulting and very rational fear among developers would effectively end the development of these technologies in the United States.”
In January, Michael Lewellen, a member of the Crypto Advocacy Group Coin Center, continued the Attorney General Merrick Garland so that his planned release of non -guardian software was declared legal and to prevent the Doj from using laws on the transmission of money to continue it.
Lewellen said that the DoJ “began to prosecute people criminally for having published similar cryptocurrency software, which, according to him, has extended the interpretation of the laws of transmission of money” beyond what the Constitution allows “.
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