The Roman Storm Verdict | Peter Van Valkenburgh & David Morris

Bankless

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Tech News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to BanklessTV, featuring Peter Van Valkenburgh from Coin Center and David Morris of The Rage, freshly back from the SDNY courtroom with the inside scoop on the Roman Storm verdict. In this episode we unpack the split decision—how Storm beat the money-laundering and sanctions-evasion counts yet was found guilty on the hot-button “unlicensed money-transmission” charge—and what that single conviction means for every non-custodial developer in crypto. Peter breaks down the legal tightrope between FinCEN guidance and DOJ prosecution, outlines three clear appeal paths (including the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act), and explains why Roman’s case could still become a rallying point for financial-privacy legislation. David shares firsthand color from the trial: jury deadlocks, high-stakes witness drama, and the emotional moment Storm walked free to see his daughter. Join us to hear why this verdict is both a wake-up call and an opportunity, what Congress, the courts, and the next administration might do next, and how the outcome could reshape DeFi, privacy tech, and open-source innovation for years to come. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:28 Introduction to the Roman Storm Case 0:58 Reflections on the Verdict 3:37 Understanding the Charges 4:07 Breakdown of the Conspiracy Counts 8:40 The Sentencing Landscape 9:29 Courtroom Atmosphere and Reactions 11:18 The Appeal Process 15:20 Roman's Optimism After the Verdict 17:08 Legal Standards and Implications 21:58 The Role of FinCEN Guidance 26:03 The Bigger Picture for DeFi 29:25 Jury Dynamics Explained 34:08 Optimistic Outcomes and Future Paths 36:25 Legislative Changes Ahead 39:54 The Potential for Re-prosecution 47:43 The Impact of Political Climate 51:37 Paths to Clarity in Legislation 55:45 The Future of Non-Custodial Projects 1:02:08 The Importance of Precedent 1:08:27 Closing Thoughts on the Case 1:09:13 A Call to Action for Support 1:15:37 Supporting the Cause 1:18:13 Final Reflections on the Journey ------ RESOURCES Support The Rage’s on-the-ground reporting https://therage.co/donate Support Coin Center’s policy work (fiat & crypto options) https://coincenter.org/donate ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, Bankless Nation, we are live with Peter Van Valkenberg from Coin Center and David Morris from The Rage.
0:10.3	Peter, you've been on the show before. David, you're brand new. David, you have been reporting,
0:14.1	doing some of the most in-depth reporting in the front lines in the courtroom with the Roman Storm case.
0:20.7	We are, I think this took four plus weeks for all of this to wrap up and we just got the
0:25.4	verdict just a few hours ago.
0:28.0	About three and a half weeks.
0:29.6	Three and a half weeks.
0:30.7	Yeah.
0:31.1	Just as a naive, non-legal, legal-minded person. My summary of the verdict so far is mixed with definitely
0:40.1	cause for concern. I think if we are primarily concerned with Roman Storm the individual,
0:45.9	we are happy. He is flying home to Seattle tomorrow to spend time with his daughter,
0:50.9	but the story is not over. As an industry, a crypto industry, there are things to be
0:56.8	concerned about and the fight continues. That's kind of my summation of everything. Maybe you can
1:01.2	give me your immediate thoughts and reflections since you were just there and you watch things
1:04.6	go down firsthand. Yeah, I think that the verdict reflects sort of a really thorough chaos at every level of this proceeding from start to finish.
1:19.5	There were really constant fights and constant uncertainty about which witnesses would be admitted what they would be allowed to talk
1:29.7	about within some very fine green lines. Just to pick one example off the top of my head,
1:35.7	there was considerable discussion and debate over whether evidence could be allowed that
1:49.0	crypto holders were threatened with kidnap or physical danger because of the public nature of blockchain addresses. And in fact, one witness for the defense
1:56.6	was sort of talking about hiding his investment portfolio online and not wanting to have a
2:02.7	quote unquote target on his back. And then there was a big objection. And that was taken as
2:07.6	like some metaphor for physical threat. This is just one example of like things were being
	...

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