#Encryption software developer sues Attorney General#

Coin Center, a cryptocurrency think tank, researcher Michael Louden has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in Texas, seeking a judge's assurance that the Department of Justice will not prosecute his upcoming cryptocurrency project for violating money transmitting laws. Louden argues that the DOJ's criminal prosecutions of software developers who release non-custodial cryptocurrency software, such as the prosecutions of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez, are unconstitutional and violate the First and Fifth Amendments. He believes the DOJ’s prosecutions of crypto developers “betray its statements to the public,” that it won’t prosecute developers as money transmitters unless they have “full and independent control” over the value transferred. Louden’s suit comes amidst growing concerns over government persecution of crypto privacy software developers, both in the U.S. and abroad. If convicted of all charges related to the crypto mixing service, Tornado Cash’s Storm faces up to 45 years in prison; Rodriguez faces up to 25 years for creating Samourai Wallet. Both have pleaded not guilty and are set for trial this year. In the absence of clear crypto regulation and a legal framework, preemptive lawsuits like Louden’s are becoming increasingly common. Last year, two NFT artists sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking similar declaratory judgments protecting them from SEC civil penalties. Louden is attempting to avoid Rodrigez and Storm’s fate through his lawsuit. His upcoming project, Pharos, is essentially a crypto-based Kickstarter. His crowdfunding platform built on Ethereum will use a smart contract he calls a “guaranteed contract” to ensure donors automatically receive their money back if the project is underfunded. The project will also feature privacy features to prevent the identities of project donors from being revealed. As the creator and publisher of the Pharos software, Louden will only be paid a predetermined fee if the project is successful. According to his lawsuit, he “will never control cryptocurrency passing through Pharos.”