Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, has donated 50 ETH (approximately $170,000) to support the legal defense of Roman Storm, a Tornado Cash developer.
Buterin has made another major gesture to defend privacy and open source development in the cryptospace. The gift, confirmed by Storm Dec. 31 is a further significant gesture.
Storm expressed heartfelt appreciation for Buterin’s contribution while acknowledging the Ethereum co-founder’s ongoing support during a challenging time. He wrote:
“Immense gratitude to Vitalik Buterin for his generous donation to my legal defense fund. Your unwavering support and leadership by example continue to inspire us all. Thank you for standing with me during this challenging time.”
Storm also shared an update on the progress of his legal defense fund, which has so far raised $640,061—33% of the $2 million target.
Storm’s trial is set to begin in the US April 14, over accusations of money laundering, sanctions violations and the use of Tornado Cash as a cryptomixing platform.
Legal efforts
Storm’s donation announcement follows his December motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him.
His legal team argued that a recent court ruling questioning the US Treasury’s authority to sanction Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts undermines the case against him.
According to Storm’s lawyers, Tornado Cash’s smart contracts operate autonomously without individual control. The lawyers emphasized this lack of supervision negates any claims made by Storm that it violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The defense further argued that the government’s case misrepresents Tornado Cash’s decentralized nature. Intelligent smart contracts operate independently and process transactions, so it is impossible to trace their activity to Storm.
This lack of direct supervision, they claim, removes any intent or knowledge necessary to support money-laundering charges.
Greg Lang, the founding member of Rivet said that the community has been incredibly responsive to the case.
“Creating and publishing open source privacy tools is protected speech—not an act in furtherance of any criminal conspiracy that uses the software.”
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