- A senior DOJ official says that writing code “without criminal intent is not a crime.”
- The assurance comes after the conviction of a Tornado Cash developer.
- The DOJ vows it will not use prosecutions as a tool to regulate crypto.
A senior U.S. Department of Justice official spoke in Wyoming before an audience of concerned cryptocurrency innovators and delivered the message they have been eager to hear: the government is no longer waging war on software developers.
In a notable speech, he declared that merely writing code—when done without criminal intent—is not a crime.
The remarks came from Matthew Galeotti, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Criminal Division, who offered strong reassurances on Thursday at an event hosted by the new crypto advocacy group American Innovation Project.
Galeotti’s remarks, which received widespread applause, represented a deliberate tonal shift from a department whose recent actions had chilled the developer community.
A line in the sand after the storm
Galeotti drew a firm line and promised that the Justice Department would not use the criminal justice system as a backdoor means to regulate digital assets.
“The Department is not using federal criminal laws to shape a new regulatory regime for the digital asset industry,” he said.
The Department will not use prosecutions as a legislative tool. The Division should not leave innovators guessing about what might trigger criminal charges.
He then delivered the centerpiece of his remarks, a clear and unequivocal statement: “Simply writing code without criminal intent is not a crime.”
This was not a vague promise. Galeotti spoke directly to the law used in high-profile cases against the developers behind Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet, saying the department would not bring charges under that statute unless prosecutors have “evidence that the defendant knew of specific legal obligations and intentionally violated them.”
He went further, extending protections to projects in which “the software is truly decentralized and only automates peer-to-peer transactions, where no third party holds custody or control over users’ assets.”
The shadow of the Southern District
Those reassuring words were delivered against a chilling recent backdrop.
The speech follows two high-profile and controversial wins for U.S. prosecutors.
The most prominent was the conviction of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm for engaging in an illegal money transmission enterprise—a verdict many in the industry viewed as tantamount to criminalizing open-source software.
The outcome highlighted a lingering conflict within the department: a perceived gap between top leadership and some of its most aggressive prosecutors.
Earlier, a memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in April signaled a more cautious approach after the Trump administration and even disbanded the national cryptocurrency enforcement team. Nevertheless, the influential U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) continued prosecutions against Storm and developers of Samourai Wallet, creating deep uncertainty and fear across the sector.
A cautious sigh of relief
Galeotti’s address aimed to quell that fear and reaffirm a unified, top-down policy stance.
“Developers of neutral tools with no criminal intent should not be held responsible for someone else’s misuse of those tools,” he said.
If a third party’s abuse violates the criminal law, that third party should be prosecuted—not a well-intentioned developer.
For an industry that has felt besieged and has spent millions lobbying to protect its innovators, the speech felt like a possible turning point.
It was public confirmation of their central argument.
“That the Department acknowledged developers should not be held liable for third parties’ misuse of their code reinforces what we have been advocating for years,” said Amanda Tuminelli, Executive Director of the DeFi Education Fund, in a statement.
Let’s celebrate this moment of progress—and remember there is still work to be done to secure lasting legal change.