Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, has significantly contributed to the Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev’s legal defense. His continued dedication to resolving the legal issues that prominent players in the cryptocurrency industry confront is reflected in the gift.
Buterin’s Monetary Assistance
The Juicebox project “Free Pertsev and Storm” disclosed in a post on December 31 that Buterin had contributed 50 Ether (ETH), which at the time was worth around $170,000. A fund has been formed to support Tornado Cash engineers who are facing criminal prosecution for their work on the cryptocurrency mixing platform, and this gift adds to that fund.
Immense gratitude to @VitalikButerin for his generous donation to my legal defense fund. Your unwavering support and leadership by example continue to inspire us all. Thank you for standing with me during this challenging time. 
#Gratitude #Leadership
He donated 50 eth today… pic.twitter.com/76Lmbdk8vg
— Roman Storm 
(@rstormsf) December 31, 2024
About a quarter of the $650,000 that the developers presently have access to through JusticeDAO is represented by the gift. The goal of this community-driven project is to give them financial support for their legal challenges. Buterin’s participation demonstrates his ongoing support for anyone singled out by government activities in the blockchain industry.
Prior Assistance for Developers of Tornado Cash
Buterin has already supported the developers with such donations. He showed his commitment to protecting developers in the face of wider worries about regulatory overreach in October 2024 by donating 100 ETH, which was worth $240,000 at the time.
Alexey Pertsev’s arrest by Dutch police in 2022 marked the start of the Tornado Cash team’s legal issues. Later, he was accused of money laundering because of his involvement in running the Tornado Cash platform. In May 2024, Pertsev was found guilty and sentenced to over five years in prison. He is currently appealing the verdict.
Another Tornado Cash creator, Roman Storm, has faced fraud, sanctions breaches, and money laundering charges in the US. Storm’s trial is set to start on April 14 even though he was released on bond.
Regulatory Background and Public Reaction
The allegations against the creators of Tornado Cash are mostly related to the sanctioning of Tornado Cash in August 2022 by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Authorities said that the network helped launder more than $7 billion in cryptocurrencies, which led to its inclusion on the list of Specially Designated Nationals. According to reports, some of the money was connected to North Korean hackers.
The cryptocurrency community has strongly criticized these moves. Many contend that the values of technical innovation and freedom are compromised when creators of decentralized networks are prosecuted. Lawsuits from advocacy organizations like Coin Center and Coinbase-backed Tornado Cash users are among the legal challenges to OFAC’s operations that have surfaced.
An appeals court declared in November 2024 that OFAC had overreached itself in approving Tornado Cash-related immutable smart contracts. The criminal charges against Storm and Pertsev are still pending, nevertheless, and this ruling has no impact on them.
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