Tornado Cash support: Ethereum Foundation pledges $1M to Storm’s defense, entities boost Pertsev appeal

Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev received renewed enactment from the crypto assemblage connected their respective trials for deploying the open-source codification down the mixer.

The Ethereum Foundation connected June 12 donated $500,000 to Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s ineligible defense. It said it volition lucifer different $750,000 from public contributors arsenic the US wealth laundering lawsuit approaches trial. 

Storm acknowledged the pledge minutes aboriginal connected X, describing it arsenic captious to “standing up for privateness and the close to code.” The caller committedness follows a $1.25 cardinal assistance from task steadfast Paradigm earlier this twelvemonth and brings full community-raised backing for Stormto astir $3 million.

The Tornado Cash developer presently remains connected $2 cardinal bail successful Washington state. Prosecutors arrested him connected August 23, 2023, and charged him with conspiring to launder much than $1 cardinal successful crypto, including funds moved by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. 

A national justice has kept the July 14, 2025, assemblage day connected the calendar. 

Advocacy groups record little for Pertsev

In the Netherlands, Coin Center and the DeFi Education Fund lodged an amicus brief supporting Tornado Cash coder Alexey Pertsev’s entreaty of his wealth laundering conviction. The filing argues that immutable astute declaration codification is simply a neutral instrumentality and that holding developers liable would chill open-source innovation. 

Pertsev’s lawsuit already drew a $1.25 cardinal Ethereum Foundation assistance connected February 26 that carried the aforesaid “privacy is normal, and penning codification is not a crime” connection seen successful Storm’s backing drive.

Dutch agents arrested Pertsev successful Amsterdam connected August 10, 2022, 2 days aft the US Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash. 

Judges tried him connected March 25 and 26, 2024, and sentenced him to 64 months for facilitating the laundering of astir $1.2 cardinal connected May 14. He near situation nether physics monitoring connected February 7, 2025, portion his entreaty proceeds successful s-Hertogenbosch. 

OFAC delisted Tornado Cash astute declaration addresses connected March 21 aft an appeals tribunal ruled the immutable codification could not beryllium sanctioned arsenic property. The removal eased token restrictions but did not extremity the parallel transgression cases against the developers.

The station Tornado Cash support: Ethereum Foundation pledges $1M to Storm’s defense, entities boost Pertsev appeal appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.