The release of Ross Ulbricht and the removal of Tornado Cash penalties mark important moments for the crypto community. It is more than symbolic. This is an opportunity to clearly rebrand the US as a safe place to build the internet of money.
Ross’ freedom comes after more than a decade in prison — a journey defined by relentless advocacy, legal battles, and unwavering support from the crypto community. His release means a lot to me because over a decade ago I launched Silk Road 2.0, the successor to his site.
His double life sentence without parole wasn’t just about Silk Road, though. It symbolizes the US government’s resistance to the blockchain industry and the idea of a financial system controlled by individuals instead of big banks.
The US dollar is the world reserve currency; and, cryptocurrency has given the world democratic access to this reserve through stablecoins. Satoshi Nakamoto announced Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” and Silk Road was the first to actually implement that vision. Silk Road opened the door to cryptocurrency and introduced Silicon Valley (and many other groups) to bitcoin. It started companies like Coinbase, projects like Ethereum, and paved the way for stablecoins, which were not yet private.
However, there is no legitimate marketplace for buying and selling things with bitcoin. The reputation of our industry is that we are highly speculative and full of scams. We cannot forget that Satoshi created bitcoin for payments, not speculation. The US cannot miss the internet-of-money. During previous administrations, global developers were nervous about attending conferences hosted here. This has consequences for the crypto industry in the US. Ross’ exit is a clear sign that the US is no longer a scary place to innovate in cryptocurrency. His experience underscores the need for proportional justice and serves as a reminder of the human value of overreaching in regulating change.
Read more: Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Pardoned by President Trump
His release is an opportunity for reflection — to celebrate his freedom while keeping clear eyes about the past. In the end, his harsh sentence prevented the bitcoin revolution for all of us. We must ensure that his case becomes a catalyst for constructive change rather than a footnote in a history of missed opportunities, a series of memecoins, or a divisive narrative that further erodes trust.
Similarly, the case of Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm — who is still in legal jeopardy — clearly shows the dangers of criminalizing innovation. Tornado Cash offers a critical function (a “mixer”) in enabling private Ethereum transactions — an essential part of conducting business competitively.
It is important to create privacy technologies, but we also need to understand the line between legal and illegal use cases. Yes, launch Silk Road, but don’t allow the sale of drugs on it. Launch Tornado Cash, but don’t encourage money laundering here. The depressing effect of both cases on developers like me cannot be overstated. Privacy innovators in the US and abroad are now second-guessing their work, fearing the legal ramifications of creating privacy-protecting tools.
And what do you do when you launch something decentralized that takes on a life of its own? Tornado Cash penalties are considered illegal of the Fifth Circuit Court, however, the Department of Justice dismissed the decision as irrelevant. The developers of Tornado Cash were allegedly aware of its misuse for money laundering but did not act decisively to address it. In a decentralized platform, should its first developers be responsible for users’ activity? There is a clear need for America to define a “Section 230” for developers of decentralized software to not be criminally liable for what their users do on their platforms. (“Section 230” refers to a law that frees social media platforms from responsibility for content published on their networks.)
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As entrepreneur-politician Vivek Ramaswamy says, “You can’t chase code developers. What you really need to do is go after individual bad actors who break the laws that already exist.”
To move forward as an industry, we need to separate the tools from the misuse of those tools. Private technologies like Tornado Cash, Monero, and Zcash are unfairly stigmatized because of their potential use for illicit activities. But they have transformative potential for legitimate use cases, from safeguarding personal financial data to enabling secure business transactions.
Zcash, with its optional shielded transactions, gives individuals and businesses the ability to conduct secure and private transactions while remaining compliant with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer ( KYC). Such innovations bridge the gap between cryptocurrency and traditional industries, empowering businesses to use crypto without exposing sensitive financial details.
Privacy technology like Zcash also addresses a major flaw in bitcoin and other public ledger cryptocurrencies: the exposure of transaction data that creates competitive disadvantages and privacy risks. Soon, Zcash will be on Mayachain, allowing a decentralized way to convert between bitcoin and Zcash. It will also soon support ZSAs (shielded assets), which will allow stablecoins to be issued privately for the first time.
The new administration has proposed a national “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” but this raises questions about privacy and decentralization. Unlike other reserves, such as gold, Bitcoin’s blockchain discloses deposits and withdrawals to the public forever. Does the Trump Administration know this? This level of transparency is a double-edged sword, making privacy technologies even more important for maintaining competitive and strategic advantages.
So, where do we go from here? Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency industry are at a crossroads. It’s a moment to refocus on the principles that drove early adoption: a vision of privacy, financial freedom and, above all, peer-to-peer payments.
The US crypto landscape, which is currently a mess of regulatory uncertainty, scams, and crashes, needs re-examination. Instead of demonizing privacy changes, policymakers should work with developers to create clear, enforceable standards for responsible uses of “electronic cash.” This means proactive education and collaboration with regulators, more investment in privacy technologies, and building a regulatory framework that encourages US blockchain innovation.
