- A senior official at the Department of Justice says writing code “without wrongful intent” is not a crime.
- The reassurance follows the conviction of a Tornado Cash developer.
- DOJ vows not to use prosecutions as a legislative tool for crypto.
Facing a nervous audience of cryptocurrency innovators in Wyoming, a senior official from the U.S. Department of Justice delivered the message they had been eager to hear: the perceived government campaign against software developers is coming to an end.
In a landmark address, he stated clearly that the mere act of writing code, when done without criminal intent, does not constitute a crime.
The official, Matthew Galeotti, acting deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Criminal Division, offered these strong assurances on Thursday at an event hosted by the new crypto organization American Innovation Project.
His remarks, met with sustained applause, marked a deliberate and notable shift in tone from a division whose recent actions had sent chills through the developer community.
A line drawn after the storm
Galeotti drew a firm line and promised the DOJ would not use the justice system to indirectly regulate the digital asset space.
“The Department will not use federal criminal law to create a new regulatory regime for the digital asset industry,” he said.
The Division will not use prosecutions as a means of making law. The Division should not leave innovators guessing about what might lead to criminal charges.
He then delivered the central point of his remarks, a clear and unequivocal declaration: “Simply writing code without wrongful intent is not a crime.”
This was not a vague promise. Galeotti addressed directly the criminal statute used to prosecute the developers behind both Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet, stating that the DOJ will not bring charges under that statute unless prosecutors have “evidence that a defendant knew the specific legal requirements and willfully violated them.”
He went further, extending protection to projects where “the software is truly decentralized and solely automates peer-to-peer transactions, and where no third party has custody or control over users’ assets.”
The shadow of the Southern District
These reassuring words were delivered against a daunting recent history.
The remarks come in the wake of two high-profile and deeply controversial victories for U.S. prosecutors.
Most notable was the conviction of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm for running an illegal money-transmitting operation, a ruling many in the industry saw as tantamount to criminalizing open-source development.
This conflict has long haunted the sector: an apparent divide between the Department’s senior leaders and its most aggressive prosecutors.
An April memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had already signaled a more cautious approach under the prior administration and even disbanded the national cryptocurrency enforcement team.
Nevertheless, the powerful Southern District of New York (SDNY) proceeded with cases against Storm and the Samourai Wallet developers, creating an atmosphere of deep uncertainty and fear.
A cautious sigh of relief
Galeotti’s speech was a direct attempt to calm that fear and restore a unified, top-down policy.
“Developers of neutral tools who lack criminal intent should not be held responsible for someone else’s misuse of those tools,” he said.
If a third party’s misuse violates criminal law, the third party should be prosecuted — not the well-intentioned developer.
For an industry that has felt besieged and invested millions in lobbying to protect its innovators, the speech felt like a potential turning point.
It served as a public affirmation of their central argument.
“The fact that the DOJ recognized that software developers should not be held liable for third-party misuse of their code confirms what we have been advocating for years,” said Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, in a statement.
Let us celebrate this as a moment of progress, while remembering that further work is needed to secure lasting legislative change.