U.S. Department of Justice officials stated after the Tornado Cash case: simply writing non-malicious code is not a crime.

According to a report by Jinse Finance, Matthew Galeotti, the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, stated at the American Innovation Project event that “merely writing code without malicious intent is not a crime.” He emphasized that the Department of Justice will continue to prosecute crimes involving fraud, Money Laundering, and sanctions evasion, but will not use criminal law to impose a new regulatory framework on the encryption industry. This statement came weeks after Roman Storm, the founder of Tornado Cash, was convicted for allegedly operating an unlicensed money transfer business, sparking calls within the industry to dismiss the charges against him. The Justice Department’s shift in stance is seen as related to the new Trump administration’s adjustments to digital asset policies.