"Tornado Cash Founder Fights Back: Privacy vs. Prosecution"

Tornado Cash co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, has spoken out against the money-laundering prosecution he faces, claiming that the charges are an attempt to criminalize privacy in the digital age. In a recent statement, Pertsev argued that his work on the open-source code for Tornado Cash, a non-custodial protocol that enables private transactions, should not be considered a crime.

Pertsev is facing up to 45 years in prison for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and sanction evasion. He has spent over a million dollars on legal costs and continues to fight the charges. Other co-founders of Tornado Cash, Roman Semenov and Alex Storm, have also faced prosecution.

Pertsev's statement was supported by multiple professionals from the blockchain industry, including lawyer Keri Axel and politician and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy called the sanctions against Tornado "illegal and unconstitutional." On Jan. 21, a court ruling seemingly overturned the U.S. sanctions, ruling that Tornado's smart contracts are not "property" under U.S. law.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also expressed his support for Tornado Cash, stating, "You created Tornado in significant part because of my suggestion that it is something worth building. It would violate basic honor for me to do that, and then fail to support you in your hour of need. In Ethereum we protect our own, and uphold our honor."

Some observers of the case have expressed confidence that prosecutors may drop the charges against Pertsev and other crypto professionals currently facing charges. Newly sworn-in U.S. President Trumppardoned Ross Ulbricht, founder and operator of Silk Road, an infamous online black market that operated on the dark web from 2011 to 2013. Storm and other crypto professionals hope that the Trump administration will be lenient toward their own.

On Jan. 23, Trump issued an executive order banning federal agencies from pursuing work on a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. This move signals the White House's support for private transactions over those that might be fully auditable by regulators, boding well for Tornado Cash.

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies,