Judge rules crypto protocols can be money transmitters without control
In a landmark ruling that immediately incensed the crypto community, a US judge has clarified that as a matter of law, control of money is not a prerequisite for operating a money transmitter. Specifically, business operators may not disclaim responsibility for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements simply because they avoid controlling money during its transmission . The decision has significant implications for the crypto industry, particularly for the legal cases involving Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet. In an oral ruling on Thursday, a US District Court judge for the Southern District of New York settled this hotly contested issue in the government’s favor. Crypto industry defendants believed that business operators must control money in order to transmit money. The government has argued for years, and repeated in an April 26 filing, that control of funds is not a statutory requirement. “If Congress had intended that control of the funds was a requirement, it could have said as...