- A senior DOJ official states that coding “without malicious intent is not an offense.”
- This assurance follows the conviction of a Tornado Cash developer.
- The DOJ promises not to utilize indictments as a legislative tool in crypto.
Addressing a concerned gathering of cryptocurrency developers in Wyoming, a high-ranking official from the US Department of Justice articulated the precise assurance they were eager to receive: the government’s supposed campaign against software developers is at an end.
In a pivotal address, he asserted that merely writing code, with no malicious intent, does not constitute a crime.
Matthew Galeotti, the acting assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s criminal division, provided these strong reassurances at an event organized by the newly established crypto advocacy group, American Innovation Project.
His remarks, met with enthusiastic applause, marked a significant shift in tone from a department whose recent actions have created unease among developers.
A clear stance after the upheaval
Galeotti firmly asserted that the DOJ would not misuse the legal system to indirectly regulate the digital asset sector.
“The department will not employ federal criminal statutes to form a new regulatory framework over the digital asset sector,” he declared.
The department will not leverage indictments as a lawmaking mechanism. Innovators should not be left in the dark about potential criminal prosecution.
He then delivered the central message of his address, a clear and definitive statement: “merely coding without malicious intent is not a crime.”
This was a straightforward commitment. Galeotti specifically referenced the legislation used to convict the developers of both Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet, clarifying that the DOJ would only pursue charges under that statute if prosecutors possess “evidence that a defendant was aware of the specific legal requirements and deliberately violated them.”
Moreover, he extended protection to initiatives where “software is genuinely decentralized and solely facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, without third-party custody and control over user assets.”
The looming shadow of the Southern district
However, these reassurances were made against the troubling backdrop of recent events.
The address follows a couple of high-profile and contentious wins for US prosecutors.
Most notably, the conviction of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm for operating an unlawful money transmitting business, a decision many in the sector viewed as a direct criminalization of open-source programming.
This represents the ongoing tension within the industry: a perceived gap between the department’s leadership and its more aggressive prosecutors.
An April memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had previously suggested a more cautious strategy during the Trump administration, even disbanding the national cryptocurrency enforcement team.
Yet despite that memo, the influential Southern District of New York (SDNY) advanced its cases against Storm and the Samourai Wallet developers, fostering a climate of significant uncertainty and anxiety.
A careful sigh of relief
Galeotti’s comments were a direct attempt to alleviate that anxiety and reaffirm a cohesive, top-down policy.
“Creators of neutral tools with no criminal intent shouldn’t face accountability for another’s misuse of these tools,” he asserted.
If a third party misuses these tools in violation of criminal law, that individual should be held accountable, not the intention-driven developer.
For an industry that has felt besieged, investing millions into lobbying efforts to protect its innovators, this speech represented a possible turning point.
It served as a public endorsement of their central arguments.
“The acknowledgment from the DOJ that software creators shouldn’t be accountable for third-party misuse of their code validates our long-standing position,” stated Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund.
Let’s celebrate this milestone and recognize that further efforts are needed for a lasting legal change.
