Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin donated 50 Ether (approximately $170,000) on 12/31 to support the legal fees of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
Tornado Cash and its developers face numerous legal challenges
In August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed the mixer Tornado Cash on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) blacklist, alleging that Tornado Cash was used by North Korean hackers and other criminals to conceal illegal sources of funds. Subsequently, Dutch authorities arrested Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, prosecuting him for involvement in money laundering activities. In May 2024, Pertsev was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to over five years in prison.
Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors simultaneously charged other co-developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, accusing them of money laundering, violating court rulings, and committing fraud. Currently, Storm was released on bail prior to his trial on April 14 last year, while Semenov has not been arrested and remains at large.
Vitalik's donation and fundraising status for legal fees
Vitalik provided approximately 50 Ether in this donation to support the defense costs of Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
Additionally, Vitalik also raised approximately $240,000 through the crowdfunding platform Juicebox in October 2023 for Pertsev and Storm, totaling 100 Ether (ETH) in funding at that time. These funds will be used for the defense costs of the two developers. Currently, the total amount raised for Storm and Pertsev's defense costs is about $650,000, part of which comes from the support of JusticeDAO.
Current fundraising status of JusticeDAO and strong dissatisfaction in the crypto community regarding sanctions and accusations
After Tornado Cash was sanctioned and the developers were charged, many users and crypto advocacy groups expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S. government. Some critics believe that the government's sanctions have overstepped, especially targeting immutable smart contracts.
According to previous reports from Chain News, a U.S. appeals court ruled last November that OFAC had overstepped its authority, stating that Tornado Cash's smart contracts do not constitute 'property,' but the case is not yet fully resolved. Balancing the need to curb potential illegal uses while fostering innovation and privacy protection will be a challenge for global regulatory bodies in the future.
(Interpreting the Tornado Cash Case: The Court's Key Determination on Smart Contracts Will Change the Regulatory Perspective on DeFi)
This article 'Ethereum founder Vitalik generously donated $170,000 in ETH to help Tornado Cash mixer developers deal with lawsuits' first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.
