Roman Storm, co-founder of the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer, appealed to the US federal court with a motion to dismiss criminal charges. He referred to the recent decision of the Court of Appeals, which recognized the actions of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against the platform as illegal.

The Court of Appeal stated that Tornado Cash smart contracts cannot be considered the "property" of foreign entities, and the developers themselves do not have the ability to control their use. This significantly undermines the charges against Storm of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Storm also claims that Tornado Cash is not a financial institution, and its protocol became immutable back in 2020, making the charges of money laundering legally untenable. This case has become an important precedent for regulating the cryptocurrency industry.