Coin Center: Trump Administration's "Verbal Leniency, Actual Lawsuits" Leave Crypto Privacy Developers in a Dilemma

PANews reported on March 29th that, according to Decrypt, Peter Van Valkenburgh, executive director of Coin Center, stated that although the Donald Trump administration promised not to prosecute developers of crypto privacy software, there is a clear contradiction between actual enforcement and policy statements, leaving developers facing uncertain legal risks. The U.S. Department of Justice has previously filed lawsuits and even sentenced several developers of privacy tools, including those related to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Ethereum developer Roman Storm has been partially convicted, and prosecutors are attempting to reopen the remaining charges.

Meanwhile, Judge Reed O'Connor recently dismissed a developer's lawsuit against the Department of Justice, arguing that the government had stated it "would not sue developers," thus posing no "real threat." However, Coin Center believes this combination of "verbal leniency + actual enforcement" actually weakens the likelihood of developers obtaining clear legal protection.

Coin Center warns that in the absence of “binding legal clarity,” the development of privacy tools could still be prosecuted for user use (such as money laundering), exacerbating compliance uncertainty in the industry.