Ethereum Foundation Backs Developer's Legal Battle Against Tornado Cash Conviction

The Ethereum Foundation has announced a significant contribution to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, a developer of Tornado Cash. The foundation will donate $1.25 million to aid Pertsev's legal battle, which has been ongoing since his arrest in August 2022. Pertsev was initially placed under pretrial detention but was later released on house arrest in February 2025, pending his legal appeal.

Pertsev's legal troubles began in 2022 when he was arrested by Dutch authorities for his involvement in Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency mixing service built on the Ethereum blockchain. The service allows users to deposit ETH or ERC-20 tokens into a smart contract and later withdraw them to a different address, effectively breaking the link between the sender and receiver. Despite not controlling the funds or the protocol, Pertsev was found guilty of money laundering by the '-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal in May 2024 and sentenced to 64 months in prison.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022, citing that over $7 billion in illicit funds had been laundered through the platform since its inception in 2019. OFAC also pointed to $455 million in stolen funds allegedly laundered by the North Korean hacking group Lazarus as part of its justification. However, a U.S. court later ruled that the Treasury overstepped its authority in sanctioning some of Tornado Cash's immutable smart contracts.

Pertsev's prosecution has drawn significant criticism from the cryptocurrency community. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed concerns about the case in 2024, stating that the prosecution threatened to hold software developers criminally liable for the bad acts of third parties, which could have a chilling effect on innovation in the crypto industry and beyond.

Meanwhile, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is also facing legal action in Manhattan on charges of facilitating money laundering through Tornado Cash. A New York court recently denied his motion to dismiss the charges, and several organizations, including venture capital firm Paradigm, have committed donations to aid in his legal battle. Paradigm announced a $1.25 million donation to help fund Storm's legal defense,