加密法律争议：34家公司联合反对司法部对Tornado Cash开发者的指控

一个由加密公司组成的联盟已敦促国会向司法部施压，要求其修改对法律“前所未有且过度宽泛”的解释。这些法律被用来指控加密混币器Tornado Cash的开发者，引发了广泛的加密法律争议。

背景与行动

3月26日，由34家加密公司和倡导团体签署的一封信被发送给参议院银行委员会、众议院金融服务委员会以及众议院和参议院的司法委员会。信中表示，司法部对无照资金传输业务的看法意味着“基本上每个区块链开发者都可能被作为罪犯起诉”。

这封信由DeFi教育基金牵头，Kraken和Coinbase等公司签署。信中还指出，司法部的解释“制造了混乱和模糊”，并“威胁到数字资产行业基于美国的软件开发的生存能力”。

Tornado Cash案件详情

该团体表示，司法部“在2023年8月通过刑事起诉书首次提出了其立场”——同时指控Tornado Cash的开发者Roman Storm和Roman Semenov洗钱。Storm已获保释，表示不认罪，并希望撤销指控。俄罗斯公民Semenov目前在逃。

类似案例与法律争议

司法部已对Samourai Wallet的联合创始人Keonne Rodriguez和William Lonergan Hill提出类似指控，两人均表示不认罪。

加密团体的信件辩称，美国法典的两个部分定义了“资金传输业务”——第31编第5330节和第18编第1960节。信中补充说，财政部金融犯罪执法网络（FinCEN）2019年的指导给出了资金传输活动的例子，并表示如果软件开发人员从未获得客户资金的占有或控制权，那么该开发人员就不是在经营‘资金传输业务’。

冲突的法律解释

信件辩称，尽管两个部分和FinCEN的指导存在“故意的相似性”，司法部采取的立场是第5330节下资金传输业务的定义与确定某人是否根据第1960节经营无照‘资金传输业务’无关。

The group accused the Justice Department of ignoring FinCEN’s guidance and parts of the law in pursuing its own interpretation of money transmission businesses when prosecuting Storm and Semenov.

The result, they said, is “two separate U.S. government agencies with conflicting interpretations of ‘money transmission’ — an unclear and unfair position for law-abiding industry participants and innovators.”

The letter said that if left unaddressed, the Justice Department’s interpretation would leave non-custodial software developers “facing criminal liability within the United States.”

The resulting, and very reasonable, fear among developers would effectively end the development of these technologies in the U.S.,” it added.

In January, Michael Lewellen, a researcher at crypto advocacy group Coin Center, sued Attorney General Merrick Garland to declare his planned release of non-custodial software legal and to prevent the Justice Department from using money transmission laws to prosecute him.
Lewellen said the Justice Department “has begun criminally prosecuting people who publish cryptocurrency-like software,” which he claims expands the interpretation of money transmission laws “beyond what is constitutionally permissible.”
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Cointelegraph: Crypto urges Congress to change DOJ rule used against Tornado Cash devs

A group of crypto firms claims the Justice Department is creating “confusion and ambiguity” for crypto with its interpretation of money-transmitting laws.