In the field of cryptocurrency, a tug-of-war to defend technological freedom is quietly heating up. Many people in the cryptocurrency community are dissatisfied with the U.S. government’s sanctions on the smart contract of the currency mixer Tornado Cash and the prosecution of two developers on money laundering charges. To this end, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stepped forward and donated 50 Ethereum coins to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
The fundraising project "Free Pertsev and Storm" on the decentralized crowdfunding platform Juicebox posted an article stating that Vitalik Buterin donated 50 Ethereum coins (approximately US$170,000) to fund the legal proceedings of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. Defense costs.
To date, the project has raised a total of 531.12 Ethereum coins, worth approximately $1.76 million.
Thank you @VitalikButerin for helping us end the year on a good note, with a 50 ETH donation to both Roman and Alexey's legal aid.
ZK is the future. https://t.co/WIY8B6v4qa pic.twitter.com/sM16LhnUc7
— Free Pertsev & Storm (@FreeAlexeyRoman) December 31,
As a decentralized currency mixing platform, Tornado Cash has always been committed to protecting user privacy. However, since 2022, the platform has been targeted by regulators in various countries. In August of that year, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Tornado Cash to its sanctions list, accusing the platform of being used by North Korean hackers and other criminals to conduct money laundering activities totaling up to $7 billion since 2019.
Subsequently, Dutch authorities arrested and prosecuted developer Alexey Pertsev and sentenced him to more than 5 years in prison in May 2024, but he refused to accept the sentence and has appealed.
At the same time, U.S. prosecutors charged two other developers, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, with money laundering, sanctions violations, and fraud. Currently, Roman Storm is out on bail and will stand trial on April 14, 2025, while Roman Semenov is still pending.
The sanctions against Tornado Cash and the prosecution of its developers triggered a strong backlash in the crypto community. Many supporters believe that this is not only an attack on privacy technology, but may also shake the foundation of open source technology, and Vitalik Buterin's actions are a response to this threat. As early as October 2024, he donated 100 ETH (approximately $240,000) to support Alexey Pertsev’s defense.
Not only that, the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision-making also faces legal challenges. Tornado Cash users backed by crypto advocacy groups Coin Center and Coinbase have filed two separate lawsuits challenging whether the government overstepped its authority.
In November 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals determined that the Treasury Department’s sanctions against the Tornado Cash smart contract exceeded the scope of the law, however this ruling has not yet had a substantial impact on the criminal cases of Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm.
"Vitalik Buterin donated 50 ETH to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers" This article was first published on (Blocker).
