Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has donated 50 ETH (approximately $170,000) to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
The donation, confirmed by Storm on December 31st, marks another important move by Buterin to champion privacy and open source development in the cryptocurrency space.
Mr. Storm expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr. Buterin for his contributions and thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his continued support during these difficult times. He wrote:
“A huge thank you to Mr. Vitalik Buterin for his generous donation to my legal defense fund. Your unwavering support and exemplary leadership continues to be an inspiration to all of us. Thank you for being with me during difficult times.”
Storm also shared an update on the progress of his legal defense fund, which has so far raised $640,061, or 33% of its $2 million goal.
Storm is scheduled to go on trial in the United States on April 14th on charges of money laundering and sanctions violations through the cryptocurrency mixing platform Tornado Cash.
legal efforts
Storm’s donation announcement follows his December motion to have the criminal charges against him dismissed.
His lawyers argued that a recent court ruling that questioned the U.S. Treasury’s authority to sanction Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts undermines the case against him.
Storm’s lawyers say Tornado Cash’s smart contracts operate autonomously, without any personal control. They stressed that this lack of oversight negates claims that Storm intentionally violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The defense further argued that the government’s lawsuit misrepresents the decentralized nature of Tornado Cash. Autonomous smart contracts process transactions independently, making it impossible to attribute their activity to Storm.
They argue that this lack of direct control eliminates the intent and knowledge necessary to justify money laundering charges and fraudulent transfers.
Meanwhile, the incident has sparked a huge response from the community, with Rivet founder Greg Lang saying:
“The creation and publication of open source privacy tools is protected speech and does not constitute the use of software to further a criminal conspiracy.”
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