The Department of Justice is trying to draw a brighter line around cryptocurrency software development, telling programmers that writing code alone should not make them criminal targets. But for Roman Storm’s defense team, the ongoing prosecution of the Tornado Cash co-founder remains the clearest test of whether this policy shift is real.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Todd Blanche told the cryptocurrency industry that the Department of Justice has moved away from what he described as prosecutions that target software developers solely for building tools that are later used by third parties. In a panel with Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, Blanche said the government’s position is that criminal liability depends on conduct, knowledge and intent, not the tokenization process itself.
“The basic principle is that if you’re developing software, if you’re a programmer, if you’re part of that process and you’re not a third-party user and you’re not assisting and you know that third party is using what you’re developing to commit crimes, then you’re not going to be investigated and you’re not going to be charged,” Blanche said. “Obviously the facts are important because if you are laundering money or violating sanctions, just being a programmer does not absolve you from criminal liability.”
These statements were framed as part of a broader message to the cryptocurrency sector: The Department of Justice wants developers and platforms to believe there has been a tangible change in the enforcement stance. Grewal summarized Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel’s message as follows: “A crime is a criminal crime; the law alone should not be so.”
This distinction is extremely important for cryptocurrency infrastructure teams, especially those building privacy tools, decentralized protocols, and open source software. For many years, one of the industry’s primary complaints has been that US prosecutors and regulators have not drawn the line between writing neutral code and engaging in the illicit use of that code. Blanche’s comments were clearly intended to address this concern.
“I really need coders to understand. I really need the industry to understand that we’ve fundamentally changed the game when it comes to our investigations,” Blanche said. “And if you’re a programmer out there listening to me talk and you’re under investigation or you have to hire an attorney to respond to subpoenas, your attorney should feel very comfortable communicating with the FBI, communicating with the prosecutor on the case and making sure they’re not violating my subpoena.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says the Justice Department has “fundamentally changed the game” in that software developers who don’t help others commit crimes won’t be charged. https://t.co/Tid9XAHWtk pic.twitter.com/CFMNrpTjCy
– Wolf of All Streets (scottmelker) April 28, 2026
Blanch added that such concerns could escalate within the department, including directly to him, if prosecutors act inconsistently with the memo he referred to. He also acknowledged that some existing issues remain unresolved, describing them as “high-profile,” “highly specific” and “procedurally complex.”
Are cryptocurrency programmers really safe?
This warning is where Roman storm case It gets to the heart of the debate.
According to Crypto in America correspondent Eleanor Terret he asked Storm’s defense team debated whether Blanche’s comments gave them any hope. They did not, said Kerry Curtis Axel, Storm’s attorney.
“The Department of Justice cannot credibly claim to have changed the game while still prosecuting Roman Storm,” Axel said. “The precedent that SDNY is trying to set is completely inconsistent with the Blanche Memorandum and the President’s policies.”
The response underscores the gap between political signals and courtroom reality. Blanche tells cryptocurrency developers that the department no longer intends to pursue cases based on code alone. Storm’s defense argues that Case of the Southern District of New York It’s precisely the kind of precedent that threatens developers against it, especially if prosecutors are able to treat software authorship and protocol participation as grounds for forensic detection when third parties misuse the tool.
At the same time, Blanche seemed aware that some issues were still pending. “These cases are something we continue to deal with,” he said. “But let me make it clear to myself that I want to put my money where my mouth is. And I expect Director Patel will as well. And when we say we won’t conduct these type of prosecutions anymore, we mean it.”
If the Roman Storm case is one of them, big questions remain open. Reports claim that people with Free Samourai tags were kicked out of a Bitcoin conference just before the session with Blanche.
That’s why you don’t invite the feds to talk about “freedom of speech.” https://t.co/SWBUhNadXM
— L0la L33tz (@L0laL33tz) April 27, 2026
At the time of publication, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was $2.53 trillion.
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