Arbitrum DAO is currently voting on a proposal to donate significant funds to the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Shtorm and Alexey Pertsev.
The proposal was made on March 7 by a representative under the nickname DK. The community can donate up to 600,000 #ARB tokens (worth about $1.3 million) in the first year to support what is described as a "robust legal defense.
The fund will also cover the cost of advertising and outreach to raise awareness and support for privacy technologies, as well as the legal challenges faced by developers in this area.
Delegates said that "with the support of their legal fund, we aim to protect not only the future of privacy technologies, but also the broader principles of innovation, #decentralization and individual sovereignty in our industry.
The #DAO has introduced a three-tiered voting system on the proposal, with funding options ranging from 200,000 to 600,000 ARB tokens.
So far, more than 80% of the votes have been cast for the highest funding tier, with voting set to close on March 14.
Tornado Cash has been embroiled in controversy, accused of helping to launder more than $1 billion in illicit funds, including funds linked to North Korean hackers.
This has sparked debate in the crypto community about the nature of decentralization and the role of developers in potentially facilitating illegal activity.
However, Tornado Cash supporters argue that the platform simply provides decentralized financial services and should not be classified as a fund transfer operator, relying on FinCEN guidance that anonymizing software providers are not fund transfer operators. The Company argues that FinCEN's guidance does not apply to anonymizing software providers.
Nevertheless, Storm and Pertsev are facing serious legal charges in the U. S. , including conspiracy to launder money and sanctions violations, which could result in up to 20 years in prison, depending on the cause of action.
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