Ethereum Foundation Pledges $1 Million for Tornado Cash Developer's Legal Defense

The Ethereum Foundation has pledged $1 million to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. The foundation announced on June 12 that it would donate $500,000 directly and match an additional $750,000 from public contributors. This support comes as Storm faces a money laundering case in the US, with a jury date set for July 14, 2025. Storm, who remains on $2 million bail in Washington state, was arrested on August 23, 2023, and charged with conspiring to launder over $1 billion in crypto, including funds allegedly moved by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Storm acknowledged the pledge on X, emphasizing the importance of standing up for privacy and the right to code. This new commitment follows a $1.25 million grant from venture firm Paradigm earlier this year, bringing the total community-raised backing for Storm to roughly $3 million.

In a related development, advocacy groups have filed an amicus brief supporting Tornado Cash coder Alexey Pertsev’s appeal of his money laundering conviction. The brief, lodged by Coin Center and the DeFi Education Fund, argues that immutable smart contract code is a neutral tool and that holding developers liable would chill open-source innovation. Pertsev’s case has already received a $1.25 million grant from the Ethereum Foundation, which carried the message that "privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime."

Pertsev was arrested in Amsterdam on August 10, 2022, two days after the US Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash. He was tried on March 25 and 26, 2024, and sentenced to 64 months for facilitating the laundering of roughly $1.2 billion. Pertsev left prison under electronic monitoring on February 7, 2025, while his appeal proceeds in s-Hertogenbosch.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) delisted Tornado Cash smart contract addresses on March 21 after an appeals court ruled that the immutable code could not be sanctioned as property. This removal eased token restrictions but did not end the parallel criminal cases against the developers.

The renewed support for Storm and Pertsev highlights the crypto community's commitment to defending developers who face legal challenges related to open-source code and privacy tools. The Ethereum Foundation's significant financial backing, along with the amicus brief filed by advocacy groups, underscores the broader implications of these cases for the future of decentralized finance and open-source innovation.