• With Vitalik Buterin's 100 ETH gift, the Tornado Cash legal fund now stands at $785,000, providing help for developers who are facing significant charges.

  • Vitalik swapped meme coins like MOODENG and NEIRO for 140.7 ETH to help fund the Tornado Cash developer defense.

  • Tornado Cash developers face trial in December; Storm could get 45 years for privacy tool use despite his not-guilty plea.

The third payment from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin increased Tornado Cash's legal defense budget. To aid engineers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev in their legal dispute, Buterin donated 100 ETH, or roughly $240,000. This latest contribution pushes the total raised by the defense fund to over 327 ETH, or about $785,000.

https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1842753781823598598 Buterin Sells Meme Coins to Support the Fund

Besides his donation, Buterin recently swapped large meme coin holdings for 140.7 Ethereum. On-chain data reveals he sold meme coins like MOODENG, DEGEN, NEIRO, and KOBASU, which have gained massive attention in recent months. For instance, NEIRO surged by 215% last week alone and skyrocketed by 1685% over the month, while MOODENG grew by 350% over a similar period.

Moreover, Tornado Cash continues to face legal scrutiny for enabling anonymous transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform has been used by hackers for money laundering activities, as highlighted by Certik’s recent report. 

Despite this, Buterin and other crypto veterans advocate for privacy tools like Tornado Cash to safeguard asset management. Tornado Cash deposits reached $2 billion in early 2024, despite sanctions and legal pressure from the U.S. government.

Upcoming Trial and Legal Ramifications

Consequently, the upcoming trial of developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm has attracted widespread attention. The trial is set for December 2 in New York, where Storm faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

Storm pleaded not guilty, arguing Tornado Cash is open-source software beyond the control of its developers. The trial is expected to last two weeks and will be pivotal for the future of crypto privacy tools. 

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