Roman Storm’s early passion for code led to Silicon Valley, Tornado Cash — and a guilty verdict

From teaching himself how to code to working odd jobs in the United States after emigrating, Roman Storm’s story is anything but typical.

Roman Storm, the Tornado Cash co-founder and developer, found an interest in computer software at a young age after his parents bought him a personal computer.

Now, at 36 years old, he holds a guilty verdict for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, issued by a jury on Wednesday. He remains in limbo as prosecutors could still retry him on two additional felony counts: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate US sanctions.

Storm has always been drawn to “the more technical side of things,” he said on a podcast in early July, just before his trial began in a New York district court. He spent time playing video games and teaching himself how computer programs and software worked.

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